This Week

We are reading:

• 1 Chronicles 23-29

• 1 Kings 1-11

• 2 Chronicles 1-9

• Psalms 64, 65, 66, 4, 5, 6, 7

Summary

This week we wrap up 1 Chronicles with David in his final days, obsessively organizing everything he couldn’t build himself: the Levites, the priests, the musicians, the gatekeepers, the military, the treasury. The man is dying and he is making lists. Honestly, I get it.

Then Solomon ascends the throne, consolidates power, and does what his father spent a lifetime preparing for — he builds the temple. Seven years of construction. Cedar from Lebanon. Gold everywhere. The ark finally in its permanent home. The presence of God filling the house like smoke.

It is one of the most magnificent moments in the entire Bible.

And then Solomon just throws it all away.

Starting with a foreign wife, a compromise, a high place built for a god that isn’t the God, and then another, and another, until a man who started by asking for wisdom is chasing every idol in the ancient Near East.

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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 145 — Monday, 5/25 — 1 Chronicles 23-26, Psalm 64

• Day 146 — Tuesday, 5/26 — 1 Chronicles 27-29, Psalm 65

• Day 147 — Wednesday, 5/27 — 1 Kings 1-4, Psalm 66

• Day 148 — Thursday, 5/28 — 1 Kings 5-8, Psalm 4

• Day 149 — Friday, 5/29 — 1 Kings 9-11, Psalm 5

• Day 150 — Saturday, 5/30 — 2 Chronicles 1-5, Psalm 6

• Day 151 — Sunday, 5/31 — 2 Chronicles 6-9, Psalm 7

Day 145 — Monday, 5/25 — 1 Chronicles 23-26, Psalm 64

• David is old and makes Solomon king.

• The Levites are organized by division and assigned specific roles: overseeing the work of the temple, acting as officers and judges, serving as gatekeepers, leading the music.

• Interestingly, the musicians are named and are treated as a guild of prophets, set apart for “prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals.”

• These chapters cover all the duties and roles related to organizing and worshipping at the temple.

Day 146 — Tuesday, 5/26 — 1 Chronicles 27-29, Psalm 65

• More organization: the military divisions, the tribal leaders, the overseers of the royal storehouses and herds and vineyards and olive groves and camels.

• David assembles all of Israel and gives a speech telling them what God told him: you are a man of war, you have blood on your hands, and you will not build the temple. Your son will.

• He hands Solomon the architectural plans then turns to the assembly and essentially runs a capital campaign. He announces what he personally is giving (massive quantities of gold and silver and bronze beyond the national treasury) and asks, who will give themselves wholeheartedly to the Lord today? The leaders and officials respond with extraordinary generosity, giving hundreds of tons of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and untold numbers of precious stones.

• Solomon is anointed a second time and David dies.

Day 147 — Wednesday, 5/27 — 1 Kings 1-4, Psalm 66

• Jumping back a bit, 1 Kings opens with David very old, and we are back in a more detailed biography of interwoven personal tales that reads very much like\ Game of Thrones.

• Another day, another coup. Adonijah, David’s surviving eldest son, moves to claim the throne. Nathan the prophet and Bathsheba stage an intervention, and David publicly anoints Solomon, undercutting Adonijah’s ploy.

• David dies. Solomon consolidates power. Adonijah makes one more play and Solomon has him executed.

• God appears to Solomon in a dream, and Solomon asks for wisdom — specifically, a discerning heart to govern the people and distinguish right from wrong. God is so pleased with the request that he gives him wealth, honor, fame, and long life on top of it.

• The infamous judgment between two mothers follows immediately after. Two women come before King Solomon, each claiming to be the mother of the same baby. One accuses the other of having rolled over on her own child in the night, suffocating it, and then secretly exchanging the dead infant for the living one. King Solomon proposes an insane solution: the living child should be cut in two, with half given to each woman. One of the women agrees, and the other cries out in protest — proving to King Solomon she is the true mother of the living baby.

Day 148 — Thursday, 5/28 — 1 Kings 5-8, Psalm 4

• The temple building begins. Solomon sends to Hiram king of Tyre — David’s old ally and an icon of Freemasonry — for cedar and cypress timber. The sheer volume of materials, laborers, and logistics described are staggering.

• Four hundred and eighty years after the Exodus (12 x 40 years, just sharing because you know I’m always calculating), in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, construction starts on the temple.

• It took seven years to build. Then, on a roll, Solomon spent another thirteen years building his own palace complex, also described in detail. The contrast in construction time is noted without comment, so make of that what you will.

• The ark is brought in to the inner sanctuary, placed under the wings of the cherubim. There are parallels to the Garden of Eden, as you will remember the cherubim are guarding the entrance with flaming swords. The cloud of God fills the temple.

Day 149 — Friday, 5/29 — 1 Kings 9-11, Psalm 5

• God appears to Solomon a second time. God is explicit in his communication with Solomon: if you walk before me as your father David walked, your dynasty will endure; if you turn away and serve other gods, this temple I have consecrated will become a heap of rubble. The foreshadowing is as thick as the cloudy presence of God in the temple.

• Solomon’s international reputation reaches its peak and the Queen of Sheba arrives and declares that his wisdom and prosperity exceed even the reports she’d heard. A foreign queen praising Israel’s God is exactly what this faithful kingdom was supposed to accomplish.

• Whoopsie! King Solomon’s riches and fame, and particularly the attention of foreign women, goes to his head. He winds up with seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. The marriages were political alliances, which was common at the time, however the consequence is that these wives turned Solomon towards other gods, just as God warned when he told the Israelites not to marry foreign women.

• Solomon built high places for Chemosh, Molek, and the other gods of all his foreign wives. The man who built the temple built shrines for idols on the hills outside Jerusalem, and he worshipped there. Big yikes.

• God tells him the kingdom will be torn away — but not in his lifetime, for David’s sake. One tribe will remain for David’s sake. The adversaries begin to rise.

Day 150 — Saturday, 5/30 — 2 Chronicles 1-5, Psalm 6

• Fun fact: Today is my birthday! Fittingly, it is also the feast day of Joan of Arc.

• We switch books again. 2 Chronicles begins at the same place as 1 Kings 1-2 ends with Solomon firmly established as king, but again skipping past the palace intrigue.

• The workforce and material quantities for the temple are described again, with some variations in number from Kings.

Day 151 — Sunday, 5/31 — 2 Chronicles 6-9, Psalm 7

• Solomon’s prayer of dedication again, and the cloud of God fills the temple.

• God appears to Solomon a third time in Chronicles.

• The Queen of Sheba again.

• In Chronicles, Solomon builds the temple and it is glorious and then he dies and his son reigns in his place. There are no foreign wives, no idols, no distraction from the core story: Solomon built the temple.

Whew, we’re almost halfway through the Bible, and working our way through the origin story of the secret societies! What came up for you this week?

This Week

We are reading:

• 2 Samuel 22-24

• 1 Chronicles 1-22

• Psalms 30, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 62

Summary

This week we finish 2 Samuel and begin 1 Chronicles.

We finish David’s story not with a bang but with a whimper — but we end up at the foundation of Solomon’s Temple.

Then we begin 1 Chronicles, which starts us back at the beginning with a retelling of our origin family and how we got from Adam to Noah to David, before diving back into David’s story.

1 Chronicles was written after the Babylonian exile, for a people returning home. It’s a lot of genealogy, yet again, but remember the books in the Bible were all separate scrolls of information, and this one was tying a somewhat nomadic people to a solid family thread so they could remember who they were.

David’s story is retold with very little scandal. Is this the boring Bible I keep hearing about? Because honestly these stories are anything but. In hindsight, we can see that David prepared everything for the temple, securing the kingdom so his son could build what he couldn’t. Moses vibes here — it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

A reminder this week: It’s ok to skim! This week is very same same, but different — it’s a lot of ground we have already covered, just from another angle. If you zone out, just come back tomorrow. It’ll still be here.

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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 138 — Monday, 5/18 — 2 Samuel 22-24, Psalm 30

• Day 139 — Tuesday, 5/19 — 1 Chronicles 1-4, Psalm 39

• Day 140 — Wednesday, 5/20 — 1 Chronicles 5-8, Psalm 40

• Day 141 — Thursday, 5/21 — 1 Chronicles 9-12, Psalm 41

• Day 142 — Friday, 5/22 — 1 Chronicles 13-16, Psalm 42

• Day 143 — Saturday, 5/23 — 1 Chronicles 17-19, Psalm 43

• Day 144 — Sunday, 5/24 — 1 Chronicles 20-22, Psalm 62

Day 138 — Monday, 5/18 — 2 Samuel 22-24, Psalm 30

• 2 Samuel 22 is David’s great song of deliverance and is nearly identical to Psalm 18, which we read back in Week 19.

• We then read David’s last words, including a catalog of his mighty men, followed by a census — so yet another list of men.

• David’s census taking is decidedly sinful (pride, perhaps?) and God lets him choose his punishment from three options: famine, 3 months as a fugitive, or 3 days of plague. David chooses the plague, and seventy thousand people die. David builds an altar and offers a sacrifice at the place where the angel of the Lord stops the famine — which becomes the place where Solomon will build the permanent temple.

Day 139 — Tuesday, 5/19 — 1 Chronicles 1-4, Psalm 39

• Chronicles starts from the beginning — Adam, Noah, his three sons, and their descendants. A piano teacher once told me that you’ll always know the beginning of a piece of music the best because you keep going over it every time you restart when you’re practicing. That’s what this feels like, tbh.

• Since we’re reading the Bible in chronological order, it’s interesting to go back and review from another angle everything we’ve read so far — a single unbroken line of a million stories that have brought us to this point.

Day 140 — Wednesday, 5/20 — 1 Chronicles 5-8, Psalm 40

• The genealogies continue. The Levites get the most specific lineage traced in detail because of their role in the temple.

Day 141 — Thursday, 5/21 — 1 Chronicles 9-12, Psalm 41

• Chapter 9 lists those who returned to Jerusalem after the exile, which is the whole point of all the genealogy.

• Saul dies, David becomes king. The sordid history is summarized into it’s final point — Israel is united under God’s appointed leader.

Day 142 — Friday, 5/22 — 1 Chronicles 13-16, Psalm 42

• David’s first attempt to bring the ark to Jerusalem goes exactly as it does in 2 Samuel — the ark slips and Uzzah steadies it and is immediately struck dead. But Chronicles adds a detail Samuel left out: when David tries to move the ark again, he makes a point of doing it correctly, with the Levites carrying the ark on their shoulders with poles, as the law prescribes.

• Chronicles is an accurate name because the details this author includes about the party post-ark arrival — the singers the instruments — vs what the author leaves out about Bathsheba, Tamar, Absalom etc is certainly a choice.

Day 143 — Saturday, 5/23 — 1 Chronicles 17-19, Psalm 43

• The Davidic Covenant again — God’s promise that David’s son will build the temple, that his line will endure, that discipline will come but love will not be removed.

• We are provided with a summary of the wars, but the Chronicler conspicuously skips over Bathsheba.

Day 144 — Sunday, 5/24 — 1 Chronicles 20-22, Psalm 62

• More Philistine battles. More giants are killed. The kingdom is secured.

• Then the census — but again, we get a different level of detail: in Samuel, it is God who incites David to take it. In Chronicles, it is Satan who does so. Honestly, this makes more sense to me.

• Whereas Samuel implies the future temple location, Chronicles outright declares it.

• In chapter 22 we have a story entirely unique to Chronicles: David gathering enormous quantities of gold, silver, bronze, iron, timber, stone for the temple and calling Solomon and charging him with the task.

What do you think of the differences between Chronicles and Samuel? Does the shift in perspective change how you see David or anything else? Share in the comments and the chat!

This Week

We are reading:

• 2 Samuel 1-21

• Psalms 18, 89, 60, 51, 3, 37, 38

Summary

We made it. David is king.

What could go wrong?!

A lot, actually.

This week we read most of 2 Samuel and watch David go from the highest highs — dancing in the streets with total abandon for the Lord, giving his wife the ultimate ick — to the lowest lows — a near-refugee fleeing his own son in a coup and trying to keep the kingdom together.

The Psalms are again ever relevant, including David’s song of deliverance (Psalm 18) and the tale of him fleeing his own son (Psalm 3).

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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 131 — Monday, 5/11 — 2 Samuel 1-3, Psalm 18

• Day 132 — Tuesday, 5/12 — 2 Samuel 4-6, Psalm 89

• Day 133 — Wednesday, 5/13 — 2 Samuel 7-9, Psalm 60

• Day 134 — Thursday, 5/14 — 2 Samuel 10-12, Psalm 51

• Day 135 — Friday, 5/15 — 2 Samuel 13-15, Psalm 3

• Day 136 — Saturday, 5/16 — 2 Samuel 16-18, Psalm 37

• Day 137 — Sunday, 5/17 — 2 Samuel 19-21, Psalm 38

Day 131 — Monday, 5/11 — 2 Samuel 1-3, Psalm 18

• News of Saul’s death reaches David via an Amalekite messenger who claims to have dealt the final blow himself because he is expecting a reward. Instead, David has him executed. Whoops! Shouldn’t have bragged about killing God’s anointed one.

• David is anointed king over Judah first, not all Israel. Saul’s surviving son Ishbosheth is proclaimed as the King of Israel, a rival — and civil war breaks out.

Day 132 — Tuesday, 5/12 — 2 Samuel 4-6, Psalm 89

• Ishbosheth is assassinated in his bed by two of his own men, who bring his head to David expecting praise. Again, David has them executed.

• David is anointed the king of Israel and captures Jerusalem, making it the capital and naming it the City of David — a culmination of the Exodus effort to flee Egypt and settle in the Promised Land

• David wants to move the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem but on the way Uzzah accidentally touches it and is struck dead on the spot. David is afraid and doesn’t try again for three months. When the procession resumes and the ark finally enters Jerusalem, David dances before the Lord with everything he has — and his wife Michal watches from a window, gets the ick, and never has children with him.

Day 133 — Wednesday, 5/13 — 2 Samuel 7-9, Psalm 60

• David, living in his cedar palace, doesn’t like that the ark is still in a tent. He wants to build God a house — but God says no, your son will build me the temple. This results in the Davidic Covenant — the promise that David’s line will result in an unconditional, eternal kingdom, culminating in the arrival of the Messiah

• For Jonathan’s sake, and as an act of covenant loyalty, David restores all of Saul’s land to his grandson, Mephibosheth, and insists he eat at the king’s table for the rest of his life.

Day 134 — Thursday, 5/14 — 2 Samuel 10-12, Psalm 51

• David starts slipping. He has an affair with Bathsheba (because remember, his wife has the permanent ick) and gets her pregnant. David calls her husband, Uriah, back from battle tries to get them to sleep together to cover it up, but Uriah refuses because his men are at war. David sends him back to the front and puts him in harms way so he dies, and David marries Bathsheba.

• Nathan the prophet comes to David and tells him a parable of a rich man who takes a poor man’s only beloved lamb rather than slaughter one of his own. David is furious at the man in the story. Then Nathan tells him “You are the man.”

• David’s child with Bathsheba dies, but they have another and name him Solomon.

Day 135 — Friday, 5/15 — 2 Samuel 13-15, Psalm 3

• David’s family falls into dissaray. His firstborn son Amnon rapes his half-sister Tamar, she flees to her brother Absalom’s house, who waits two years then has Amnon killed before fleeing. The estrangement between Absalom and David festers into a full blown political coup.

• Absalom begins systematically stealing the hearts of Israel. He sits at the city gate, intercepts anyone coming to the king for justice, tells them “if only I were made judge.” Finally, he launches his rebellion from Hebron and David flees Jerusalem with his household, barefoot and weeping up the Mount of Olives.

Day 136 — Saturday, 5/16 — 2 Samuel 16-18, Psalm 37

• As David flees, a man named Shimei — from Saul’s clan — follows along hurling curses and throwing stones. David’s men want to cut his head off. David says no. “Leave him alone; let him curse, for the Lord has told him to.” The humility of it is remarkable. He receives the cursing as discipline.

• Absalom enters Jerusalem and, on Ahithophel’s counsel, very publicly has sex with David’s concubines on the palace rooftop.

• Ahithophel advises Absalom to pursue David, but he listens to Hushai instead. While Ahitophel has a better plan, God’s plan is ultimately to thwart Absalom. Hushai then warns David to escape.

• David’s army wins in the battle in the forest of Ephraim, and Absalom, riding a mule through the forest, gets his famous hair caught in a tree — and hangs there. Joab drives three javelins through him despite David’s explicit orders that Absalom be kept alive. David is devastated when he learns his son has died.

Day 137 — Sunday, 5/17 — 2 Samuel 19-21, Psalm 38

• Joab confronts David and tells him his grief is demoralizing the army. David pulls himself together and resumes his kingship. The return to Jerusalem is complicated.

• A new rebellion rises almost immediately, followed by a famine resulting from a treaty Saul violated decades earlier.

• This week’s readings end with yet another battle between the Israelites and giants — and these ones explicitly have 6 fingers and 6 toes.

Whew. A lot going on this week. What are your thoughts? Share below and in the chat.

This Week

We are reading:

• 1 Samuel 11-31

• Psalms 54, 57, 59, 142, 63, 56, 34

Summary

This is a crazy week of readings — we get to witness a high-octane game of cat and mouse as we finish 1 Samuel, and we finally catch up to the primary author of the Psalms.

Saul becomes Israel’s first king, chosen by God, anointed and tall and promising — and he is exactly the kind of king the Israelites deserve, tbh. He starts out with genuine victories and potential, but pride and fear chip away at him until there’s almost nothing left of who he was supposed to be.

And running alongside this disintegration is the redemptive story of the rise of David as he navigates evolving identities — shepherd, musician, giant-killer, fugitive. He is impossible not to root for, and at this point in the Bible, we really need and deserve a hero.

The Psalms woven into this week’s readings are on point, traditionally attributed to David during the very events we’re reading about. You can feel David’s simultaneous fear and trust in the Lord palpably through these Psalms.

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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 124 — Monday, 5/4 — 1 Samuel 11-13, Psalm 54

• Day 125 — Tuesday, 5/5 — 1 Samuel 14-16, Psalm 57

• Day 126 — Wednesday, 5/6 — 1 Samuel 17-19, Psalm 59

• Day 127 — Thursday, 5/7 — 1 Samuel 20-22, Psalm 142

• Day 128 — Friday, 5/8 — 1 Samuel 23-25, Psalm 63

• Day 129 — Saturday, 5/9 — 1 Samuel 26-28, Psalm 56

• Day 130 — Sunday, 5/10 — 1 Samuel 29-31, Psalm 34

Day 124 — Monday, 5/4 — 1 Samuel 11-13, Psalm 54

• Saul rallies Israel to rescue the city of Jabesh-Gilead from the Ammonite king Nahash — a genuine military victory that consolidates his kingship. At this point, he is functioning exactly as God intended. Will it last?!

• Samuel gives his farewell address as judge, directly reminding and warning the people that wanting a king was a rejection of God’s direct leadership. Uh oh.

• The cracks begin to show: Saul grows impatient waiting for Samuel before battle and offers the burnt sacrifice himself — something he had no authority to do. Samuel arrives moments later. “What have you done?”

• Samuel tells Saul his kingdom will not endure.

Day 125 — Tuesday, 5/5 — 1 Samuel 14-16, Psalm 57

• Saul’s son, Jonathan, pulls off a solo attack on the Philistines that routes the whole enemy army. He didn’t ask his father’s permission, but God honored the faith.

• Saul, meanwhile, makes a rash oath that no one should eat until evening, nearly getting Jonathan executed for eating honey he didn’t know was off-limits, and is only stopped by the people intervening.

• Once again the Israelites refuse to honor God’s commands to destroy everyone/everything when Saul wins the battle against the Amekalites but spares the king Agag and keeps the best livestock. When confronted, Sau insists he was going to sacrifice them.

• God rejects Saul as the King of Israel and Samuel anoints David as the next king of Israel. David plays the harp to soothe Saul as a tormenting spirit overcomes him.

• We don’t talk about the daily Psalms/Proverbs readings enough, but all of this week’s Psalms are likely written by David. Psalm 57 is attributed to David as he’s hiding in a cave — an event we’re getting to a little later this week.

Day 126 — Wednesday, 5/6 — 1 Samuel 17-19, Psalm 59

• Ah, the Goliath story. David beats Goliath, a giant, and it’s one of the most famous Bible stories, and maybe the umpteenth time giants are mentioned, and people still think giants are mythological.

• Saul elevates David in the aftermath, he becomes friends with his son, Jonathan, and his status as a rising Israelite celebrity pushes Saul’s affection into jealousy and then rage.

• 1 Samuel 18 reads like a twisted fairy tale. Saul, seeing an opportunity to put David in harm’s way, offers to marry him off to his daughter for the price of 100 Philistine foreskins. Much to his chagrin, David returns unscathed with 200 foreskins.

• Saul tries to kill David and his son, Jonathan, warns him, and he escapes. He tries to kill him again and his daughter, David’s wife, Michal, helps David escape again.

• The Psalms we are reading this week are written by David mostly in exile, as he flees the growing rage of Saul

Day 127 — Thursday, 5/7 — 1 Samuel 20-22, Psalm 142

• Jonathan learns that Saul does, indeed, intent to kill David

• David, now a fugitive, shows up in Nob and lies to the priest Ahimelech about his mission, gets the consecrated showbread and Goliath’s sword.

• David gathers a ragtag band of men and becomes their leader. The Saul/David story continues to sound like a Fractured Fairy Tale.

• Psalm 142 is David in a cave, with no one left.

Day 128 — Friday, 5/8 — 1 Samuel 23-25, Psalm 63

• David keeps fighting the Philistines even while fleeing Saul, protecting Israelite cities while he’s technically a wanted man simply because he is a man of God and it’s the right thing to do.

• Saul pursues David relentlessly through the wilderness, and one day, he even retreats into a cave that David and his men are already in, further back. David’s men whisper that God has delivered Saul into his hands, but David refuses to harm him because he has been anointed by the Lord.

• Nabal (a name that means fool) insults David’s men and David is ready to kill him, when Nabal’s wife, Abigail, rides out to intercept him with food. She basically talks him down from a massacre and reminds him of who he is and who he’s going to be.

• Nabal dies shortly after of a stroke, and David marries Abigail.

Day 129 — Saturday, 5/9 — 1 Samuel 26-28, Psalm 56

• David again has an opportunity to kill Saul and doesn’t take it.

• Running out of options and safety in Israelite territory, David defects to the Philistines, raiding enemy towns while pretending to raid Israelite ones.

• Saul, desperate before a battle he already knows he’s going to lose, visits the Witch of Endor and asks her to conjure Samuel’s spirit. This does not bode well for Saul.

Day 130 — Sunday, 5/10 — 1 Samuel 29-31, Psalm 34

• The Philistine commanders don’t trust David marching with them into battle against Israel and send him back. David and his men return to Ziklag to find it burned and their families taken captive by the Amalekites. His own men speak of stoning him.

• David asks the Lord if he should pursue the Amalekites and get the wives, children, and stuff back, God says yes, and David and his men pursue and get everything back.

• Meanwhile, in battle: the Philistines are closing in and, rather than die at the hands of “these pagan Philistines,” Saul falls on his own sword and dies.

• Psalm 34 is David’s song of deliverance, ending the week on a sweet note.

Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the week’s readings below and in the weekly chat!

This Week

We are reading:

• Judges 13-21

• Ruth

• 1 Samuel 1-10

• Psalms 32, 35, 14, 15, 36, 86, 52

Summary

This week we continue reading Judges and learn the story of Samson.

A complicated figure, Samson is set apart at birth to ultimately deliver the Israelites from the Philistines. He is easily distracted, however — breaking his Nazarite vows by touching a dead body (the lion), possibly ingesting grapes or wine (partaking in feasts), and ultimately meeting his downfall when he tells Delilah his strength would be lost by cutting his hair.

Then we pivot into Ruth, one of the most beautiful stories in the Bible, before embarking upon the beginning of Israel’s kingship with Samuel.

The question that comes up over and over again this week is: are we following God, or are we all just doing what seems right in our own eyes?

This Bible study is free for everyone, made possible by the support of our paid subscribers.

If you’d like to support us, please consider a paid subscription.

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• Full-length weekly cultural and Biblical deep dives

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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 117 — Monday, 4/27 — Judges 13-15, Psalm 32

• Day 118 — Tuesday, 4/28 — Judges 16-18, Psalm 35

• Day 119 — Wednesday, 4/29 — Judges 19-21, Psalm 14

• Day 120 — Thursday, 4/30 — Ruth 1-4, Psalm 15

• Day 121 — Friday, 5/1 — 1 Samuel 1-3, Psalm 36

• Day 122 — Saturday, 5/2 — 1 Samuel 4-7, Psalm 86

• Day 123 — Sunday, 5/3 — 1 Samuel 8-10, Psalm 52

Day 117 — Monday, 4/27 — Judges 13-15, Psalm 32

• An angel appears to a couple and tell them they are going to have a son who will be a Nazirite and deliver the Israelites from the Philistines. They name him Samson.

• Samson kills a lion and later eats honey from its carcass — breaking the Nazirite vow never to touch a dead body.

Day 118 — Tuesday, 4/28 — Judges 16-18, Psalm 35

• Samson becomes blinded with infatuation with Delilah, who keeps trying to figure out the source of his power to sell him out to the Philistines

• After three false starts, Samson finally tells Delilah the source of his power is in his hair — she proceeds to cut it all off and turn him over to the Philistines

• Samson gets the final word, as his hair begins to grow back and God blesses him with one last feat of strength that takes out the Philistine leaders

• Israel continues to slide further into idolatry and confusion

Day 119 — Wednesday, 4/29 — Judges 19-21, Psalm 14

• The Israelites have descended into utter depravity. The story of the Levite’s concubine is heartbreaking.

• These chapters are marked by violence, civil war, and moral collapse, illustrating just what happens as humanity intermingles with the demonic offspring and drifts away from God.

Day 120 — Thursday, 4/30 — Ruth 1-4, Psalm 15

• The story of Ruth’s faithfulness and loyalty to her mother-in-law — and her dedication to fulfilling her late husband’s family line — results in Ruth ending up in the lineage of King David (and eventually Jesus).

Day 121 — Friday, 5/1 — 1 Samuel 1-3, Psalm 36

• Hannah, unable to have children, prays earnestly at the tabernacle and promises to dedicate her son to God. God answers her prayer, and she gives birth to Samuel.

• She fulfills her vow by bringing him to serve under the priest Eli, whose sons are corrupt and abuse their priestly role.

• Samuel hears God calling him at night. With Eli’s guidance, he responds, and God reveals a shocking judgment against Eli’s household.

Day 122 — Saturday, 5/2 — 1 Samuel 4-7, Psalm 86

• The Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant and treat it like a lucky charm, which backfires on them — destroying their Dagon idol, killing their townfolk — so they return it.

• Eli’s sons die, and Eli himself dies upon hearing the news.

• Samuel calls Israel to repentance. The people turn back to God, and Israel defeats the Philistines. Samuel becomes a recognized leader and judge.

Day 123 — Sunday, 5/3 — 1 Samuel 8-10, Psalm 52

• As Samuel grows old, he appoints his sons as the judges of Israel, but they become corrupt.

• The elders of Israel demand a king “like other nations.” God tells Samuel to grant their request but warns that a king will take advantage of them (taxes, labor, control).

• Saul is identified by God as Israel’s first king

And next week we begin Israel’s transition into the Kingdom period — stay tuned!

This Week

We are reading:

• Joshua 16-24

• Judges 1-12

• Psalm 13, 24-28, 31

Summary

We are finishing Joshua this week, and we see that God’s promises are being fulfilled as the Promised Land is divided amongst the tribes. Unfortunately, Israel does not hold up their end of the bargain, doesn’t wipe out the existing cities, and chaos ensues pretty quickly.

God told the Israelites to eradicate the people of that land for a reason. And, listen, I get it. It is hard to understand this kind of warfare. But we’ve read the Book of Enoch! We know what kind of genetic corruption exists in the bloodlines of giants, and unfortunately, they are at odds with humanity as originally designed by God.

And whew if these people dragging their feet about taking possession of what God already gave them isn’t relatable. Stop being a mirror, Bible!

And then we start the Book of Judges.

Judges details the leaders of the Israelites after Joshua, but before Israel had kings.

This week we also have a couple feminist icons — Deborah, the only female Judge and leader of the Israelites, and Jael, an iconic assassin.

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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 110 — Monday, 4/20 — Joshua 16-18, Psalm 13

• Day 111 — Tuesday, 4/21 — Joshua 19-21, Psalm 24

• Day 112 — Wednesday, 4/22 — Joshua 22-24, Psalm 25

• Day 113 — Thursday, 4/23 — Judges 1-3, Psalm 26

• Day 114 — Friday, 4/24 — Judges 4-6, Psalm 27

• Day 115 — Saturday, 4/25 — Judges 7-9, Psalm 28

• Day 116 — Sunday, 4/26 — Judges 10-12, Psalm 31

Day 110 — Monday, 4/20 — Joshua 16-18, Psalm 13

• The land is distributed according to God’s promise — but the Israelites are not fully driving out the inhabitants as required.

Day 111 — Tuesday, 4/21 — Joshua 19-21, Psalm 24

• More land assignments, more promises fulfilled

Day 112 — Wednesday, 4/22 — Joshua 22-24, Psalm 25

• The eastern tribes build an altar, which the tribes on the other side of the Jordan assume is yet another rebellion against the Lord, nearly plunging the Israelites into civil war. The eastern tribes explain it is an altar of unity, a reminder that all tribes have a right to worship the one true God.

• Joshua dies and is buried, after reiterating to the Israelites that they must burn their idols and worship God alone.

Day 113 — Thursday, 4/23 — Judges 1-3, Psalm 26

• We get a bit of a retelling of the end of Joshua, with Israel declining to fully remove the Canaanites and living amongst them and intermarrying, in direct disobedience to God’s commands.

• God reiterates that this will have consequences — cut to the Israelites becoming oppressed by King Eglon of Moab.

• We get a story worthy of inclusion in The Princess Bride when Ehud saves the Israelites from the Moabites by assassinating their king.

Day 114 — Friday, 4/24 — Judges 4-6, Psalm 27

• Deborah is especially interesting — a prophet AND leader in a time of total instability and oppression by the Canaanite King Jabin.

• But Jael’s story is the best. When Sisera, commander of King Jabin’s army, has his whole army wiped out in a battle with the Israelites, he retreats to hide in Jael’s tent. He falls asleep, and she drives a tent peg through his head.

• The pattern of “the Israelites did evil in the Lords sight — the Lord handed them over to _____” continues

Day 115 — Saturday, 4/25 — Judges 7-9, Psalm 28

• Gideon is chosen by God to deliver the Israelites from the Midianites. God intentionally reduces his army through a weird test of how they drink water from a spring. At any rate, with the size of the army greatly reduced, the victory is clearly divine.

• But afterward, Gideon takes all the Ishmaelites gold earrings and creates an idol that leads people astray.

• Abimelech, Gideon’s son, decides to name himself King and kills all of his half-brothers — except for one. After three years, the city rebels against him and, long story short, Abimelech is killed by a woman dropping a stone on his head from the top of a tower.

Day 116 — Sunday, 4/26 — Judges 10-12, Psalm 31

• Jephthah makes a tragic, rash vow that costs him his daughter. It’s interesting to note that God never asked him to do this, and Jephthah is mixing pagan ideas of sacrifice (particularly child sacrifice) with faith.

• By now, leadership is unstable, morality is slipping, and everyone is improvising spiritually as Israel falls further away from their orthodox faith.

What came up for you this week? How are you feeling about the Bible study? Share your thoughts below!

This Week

We are reading:

• John 13-21

• Joshua 1-15

• Proverbs 6:12-35, Psalm 55, Psalm 58, Psalm 61, Psalm 12

Summary

We wrap up the Book of John this week, completing our first testimony of Jesus’ life on earth.

This is a heartbreaking read even though we know what’s going to happen. After everything we have read so far, God’s love for us is so clear. Humanity’s sinfulness and ungratefulness stands in stark contrast to His mercy, underscored by the fact that we alone didn’t create this fallen world — we find ourselves at the crossroads of almost unfathomable cosmic spiritual warfare.

And here I am, complaining that people keep stealing my content on the internet.

We’ll catch up with John again at the end of the year when we read his letters and his final Revelation.

But now, back to the desert.

This week we begin the Book of Joshua. Joshua takes over where Moses left off, leading the Israelites into the promised land and beginning to conquer the land and take over the cities.

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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 103 — Monday, 4/13 — John 13-15, Proverbs 6:12-19

• Day 104 — Tuesday, 4/14 — John 16-18, Proverbs 6:20-24

• Day 105 — Wednesday, 4/15 — John 19-21, Proverbs 6:25-35

• Day 106 — Thursday, 4/16 — Joshua 1-4, Psalm 55

• Day 107 — Friday, 4/17 — Joshua 5-7, Psalm 58

• Day 108 — Saturday, 4/18 — Joshua 8-11, Psalm 61

• Day 109 — Sunday, 4/19 — Joshua 12-15, Psalm 12

Day 103 — Monday, 4/13 — John 13-15, Proverbs 6:12-19

• Jesus washes the disciples feet, exhibiting the radical humility and love our God has for humanity

• Jesus knows what is coming and declares “One of you will betray me.”

• Jesus states that He is the new law — the Way, the Truth, the Life

• Jesus describes the Trinity and the coming of the Holy Spirit in John 14:15, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him for he dwells with you, and will be in you.”

Day 104 — Tuesday, 4/14 — John 16-18, Proverbs 6:20-24

• Jesus is arrested in the garden of Gethsemane

• Peter slashes off the right ear of Malchus, one of the guards (in the other gospels, Peter is not named specifically to protect him, but it’s believed this gospel was written after Peter’s death)

• Peter denies Jesus 3 times before the rooster crows, as predicted

• Jesus is taken to Pontius Pilate

Day 105 — Wednesday, 4/15 — John 19-21, Proverbs 6:25-35

• Jesus’ crucifixion is ordered and the soldiers put a crown of thorns on him, mocking him

• Pontius Pilate has a complicated presence — he reluctantly orders Jesus’ crucifixion, and he repeatedly refers to Jesus as King of the Jews, even putting a “King of the Jews” sign on the cross in multiple languages. When asked to change it to He said, I am King of the Jews, Pontius said, “No. I wrote what I wrote.”

• When Jesus sees Mary from the cross, he says to John, “Behold, your mother” indicating John is to take care of Mary after Jesus’ death (note: it’s been asked if Jesus had brothers, Jesus likely would not have assigned this responsibility to John if he had brothers or if Joseph was still alive, it wouldn’t have been proper or necessary in Jewish culture)

• After Jesus’ death, one of the soldiers pierced his side and blood and water pour out, signifying the eucharist and baptism and fulfilling earlier scriptures in the Old Testament

• Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb and finds it empty. She goes and tells Peter and John, who both run to the tomb (but John infamously runs faster).

• Jesus appears to Mary outside the tomb, and to all the disciples later on

• Doubting Thomas earns his name

• John recounts a few other miracles, but states that it’s impossible to write down all the things Jesus did because the world could not contain the books that would be written

Day 106 — Thursday, 4/16 — Joshua 1-4, Psalm 55

• The Israelites finally enter the Promised Land!!

• Spies are sent into Jericho, and they meet Rahab who helps them take over the city, sparing her family

• Joshua leads them across the Jordan River in a moment that echos the crossing of the Red Sea

Day 107 — Friday, 4/17 — Joshua 5-7, Psalm 58

• The sons of Israel are circumcised because they weren’t circumcised on the way

• The Israelites conquer Jericho, their first Canaanite city, with trumpets alone

• After Jericho, Israel is defeated at Ai — and it is revealed that Achan of the tribe of Judah took forbidden things from Jericho, resulting in their defeat

Day 108 — Saturday, 4/18 — Joshua 8-11, Psalm 61

• After repentance, God grants victory at Ai

• Joshua renews the covenant by reading the Law to all Israel and engraving a copy of it onto stone

• The Gibeonites deceive Israel into making a treaty with them to spare their lives

• God fights for Israel in major battles, even causing the sun to stand still - an event the Book of Joshua mentions is written in the long lost Book of Jasher (the modern version may or may not be a medieval forgery)

Day 109 — Sunday, 4/19 — Joshua 12-15, Psalm 12

• We encounter yet another Biblical listicle: a record of all the kings defeated by Israel

• The Promised Land begins to be divided among the Israelite tribes

• Caleb, from the tribe of Judah, receives his inheritance for his faithfulness as the only other person besides Joshua who fled Egypt and made it into the promised land

Tune in next week to find out what happens next on Keeping Up With The Israelites!

This Week

We are reading:

• Deuteronomy 27-34

• John 1-12

• Psalms 149-150, Proverbs 5-6:11

Summary

Whew! What a slog through the Torah but WE. MADE. IT.

Reading through the Bible in a year is one thing, but writing my thoughts on it every week is another. I, too, feel as though I’ve been wandering through the desert for 40 years.

And yet here I am — making summer plans for a road trip with three kids through the American west — my own little desert wandering adventure.

All that to say: sorry this article is a day late this week, and Happy Easter to you and your families!!

On to the Bible notes.

As we wrap up Deuteronomy, completing Moses’ narrative in these first five books of the Bible, one of the most interesting things we are reading this week is what is commonly referred to as the Deuteronomy 32 worldview. This is further validation of the story told in early Genesis and Enoch, where we learn about the supernatural conflict between the fallen angels and the humans who have dominion over the earth. In Moses’ final words, he details how God disinherited the rebellious nations at Babel, assigning them to lesser divine beings ("sons of God") while creating Israel as his own portion.

This explains why other nations worship lesser gods/demons instead of Yahweh, why idolatry is the worship of demons and receives a strong focus, and how spiritual warfare underscores the very conflicts we see between nations today.

And on that note — I am so excited to be wrapping up this section of the Bible and jumping to our very first Messianic Checkpoint with the Gospel of John!

Thank God Jesus is finally here to reverse the fallout of Babel and take back the nations.

The Gospel of John is markedly different from the other 3 Gospels detailing Jesus’ life — Matthew, Mark, and Luke, collectively called the Synoptic Gospels. The Synoptic Gospels detail what Jesus did, whereas John details who Jesus is.

John was written much later, is much more direct about Jesus’ identity as the son of God, and focused on validating that identity by documenting His miracles. It is presumed that the author didn’t want to repeat the other Gospels and was addressing an audience of heretics. John also specifically names names where the other gospels didn’t, but that won’t come up until next week’s readings.

Note to my future self, as I evolve this Bible study for next year: I gotta say, I wish I had cut about 10 days out of the plan earlier (maybe skipping Jubilees?) so we could have read John in the lead up to Easter. I might do that next year.

I really love ending the Torah and then reading one of the Gospels. It’s such a great reward. It helps us make connections. I just can’t wait 30+ more books for Jesus and I truly feel bad for the suffering Israelites. And while I definitely think the story of the entire Bible is fascinating and of course worth reading and studying, I also think if you just read the Torah, the first section of Enoch (1-36: Book of the Watchers), a few of the Gospels and Acts — you would have the outline of early world history and the baseline of the spiritual warfare we find ourselves within. You wouldn’t have the details, but you would have the shape of things.

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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 96 — Monday, 4/6 — Deuteronomy 27-28, Psalm 149

• Day 97 — Tuesday, 4/7 — Deuteronomy 29-31, Psalm 150

• Day 98 — Wednesday, 4/8 — Deuteronomy 32-34, Proverbs 5:1-6

• Day 99 — Thursday, 4/9 — John 1-3, Proverbs 5:7-14

• Day 100 — Friday, 4/10 — John 4-6, Proverbs 5:15-23

• Day 101 — Saturday, 4/11 — John 7-9, Proverbs 6:1-5

• Day 102 — Sunday, 4/12 — John 10-12, Proverbs 6:6-11

Day 96 — Monday, 4/6 — Deuteronomy 27-28, Psalm 149

• Moses and the elders command Israel to set up plastered stones with the Law written on them once they enter the promised land.

• The Levites proclaim twelve curses for hidden sins — and all the people say, “Amen.”

• Detailed blessings are given for obedience, with very specific curses for disobedience.

• Foreshadowing! Exile is foretold if Israel is unfaithful to God. Gee, I wonder what’s going to happen next.

Day 97 — Tuesday, 4/7 — Deuteronomy 29-31, Psalm 150

• God renews the covenant with Moses and Israel in Moab.

• Israel is once again warned about idolatry and secret sin.

• God promises restoration of Israel after exile.

• Moses prepares for death and commissions Joshua as the next leader of Israel.

Day 98 — Wednesday, 4/8 — Deuteronomy 32-34, Proverbs 5:1-6

• Moses delivers the Song of Moses, recounting God’s faithfulness and Israel’s failure.

• Alright now we’re getting to the interesting part of this week’s reading: the Deuteronomy 32 worldview. Wherein God divided humanity among multiple spiritual beings (often understood as angels or divine council members) and personally chose Israel as His own inheritance. The other nations are under lesser spiritual rulers, who become corrupt and lead nations into idolatry.

  • NOTE: Some of your Bibles might say “sons of Israel” in Deuteronomy 32:8, but the original in Hebrew is the infamous bene Elohim — sons of God. This passage is talking about the events of the Tower of Babel, Israel didn’t even exist! How could God have divided the nations based on the sons of Israel!

• Despite the Israelites turning away, sacrificing to demons and whatnot, God will ultimately vindicate His people.

• Moses blesses the tribes of Israel, then God shows him the promised land that he will not enter.

• Moses dies, God buries him in Moab, and Joshua succeeds him.

Day 99 — Thursday, 4/9 — John 1-3, Proverbs 5:7-14

• The Gospel of John opens with the Word becoming flesh

• John the Baptist testifies to Jesus’ arrival

• The first disciples begin to follow Jesus after his recognition from John the Baptist

• Jesus performs his first miracle — turning water into wine at the wedding of Cana, at the insistence of his mother (a nice inclusion of Mary since John completely skips the immaculate conception — again, probably to avoid repeating stories contained in the synoptic gospels)

• Jesus sees dealers and merchants selling goods in the temple and is furious they have turned His father’s house into a marketplace, so he fashions a whip and chases them all out

• The Jewish leaders are furious at this and Jesus tells them to destroy the temple and that he will rebuild it in three days — a veiled reference to his ressurection, which the disciples will later remember

Day 100 — Friday, 4/10 — John 4-6, Proverbs 5:15-23

• Jesus reads a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well for having had 5 husbands and not being married to the man she’s currently living with — but he connects with this outsider by choosing to reveal to her that He is the Messiah and selecting her as the missionary to the Samaritans, a group at odds with the Jews — ultimately showing that Jesus has come to heal and redeem all the nations

• Jesus heals a sick man on the Sabbath, pissing off the Jewish leaders yet again

• Jesus feeds 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish

• Jesus walks on water

• Jesus tells the people in Capernaum that he is the bread of life and that anyone who eats the bread of life will live forever in Heaven. Several disciples say this is too hard to understand and desert Him. You guys want to discuss the Eucharist in the chat?

Day 101 — Saturday, 4/11 — John 7-9, Proverbs 6:1-5

• Jewish leaders argue over whether Jesus is the Messiah

• The story of the adulterous women in John 7:53-8:11 was not included in the earliest manuscripts. Some of the early church fathers believed the story likely reflected an actual Jesus story that circulated for a long time before it was documented in this Gospel — so it’s likely historically accurate if not authentic to this original manuscript.

• Jesus heals a blind man, again on the Sabbath, and accuses the Pharisees of spiritual blindness

Day 102 — Sunday, 4/12 — John 10-12, Proverbs 6:6-11

• Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead — ultimately triggering the series of events that leads to his crucifiction

• Jesus, riding a donkey, enters Jerusalem to a crowd carrying palm leaves — on a day that will be memorialized as Palm Sunday

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This Week

We are reading:

• Deuteronomy 1-26

• Psalms 133-135, 137, 146-148

Summary

This week we begin Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy is largely a redux of Leviticus and the entire 40 years of wandering in the desert as Moses reiterates the rules Israel is to abide by as they take over and inhabit the Promised Land.

Given the behavior of the Israelites for the last 40 years of desert wandering (hey, at least they weren’t slaves anymore), it makes sense that Moses would devote an entire book to summarizing the Israelites faults and rebellions and the rules that the next generation is to follow to stay in God’s good graces.

This week also marks Passover, which begins at sundown on Wednesday, April 1st and continues through Thursday, April 9th. Our family will be doing a Passover Seder to share the story of Exodus with our children. If you’ve never done a Passover Seder, it’s a ritual using symbolic foods and ritual acts that invite us to step into The Exodus ourselves, using story, symbolism, and questions to pass along what freedom really means and where we come from, in a way our kids can understand and carry with them.

Why is this night different from all other nights?

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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 89 — Monday, 3/30 — Deuteronomy 1-3, Psalm 133

• Day 90 — Tuesday, 3/31 — Deuteronomy 4-6, Psalm 134

• Day 91 — Wednesday, 4/1 — Deuteronomy 7-10, Psalm 135

• Day 92 — Thursday, 4/2 — Deuteronomy 11-14, Psalm 137

• Day 93 — Friday, 4/3 — Deuteronomy 15-18, Psalm 146

• Day 94 — Saturday, 4/4 — Deuteronomy 19-22, Psalm 147

• Day 95 — Sunday, 4/5 — Deuteronomy 23-26, Psalm 148

Day 89 — Monday, 3/30 — Deuteronomy 1-3, Psalm 133

• Moses recaps Israel’s journey: their failure to trust God when the scouts saw the giants in Canaan, and the resulting rebellion that led to 40 years of wandering; the defeat of King Og; Moses barred from entering the Promised Land; Joshua commissioned to lead the Israelites over the River Jordan.

Day 90 — Tuesday, 3/31 — Deuteronomy 4-6, Psalm 134

• Moses practically begs the Israelites to be obedient to God as they continue their journey into the promised land — warning against idolatry, reminding them God is near to His people, repeating the Ten Commandments, and urging them to teach the faith diligently to future generations.

Day 91 — Wednesday, 4/1 — Deuteronomy 7-10, Psalm 135

• Moses is again reminding the Israelites that they are chosen to inhabit and occupy the promised land — and that they have been chosen not for their greatness but due to God’s love for them. That God will indeed punish those who reject Him. And that they are to destroy idolatrous influences of other nations.

• He encourages them to fight the wicked giants of other nations, and to remain pure of heart by reminding them of the golden calf rebellion, and the renewed covenant on Mount Sinai.

Day 92 — Thursday, 4/2 — Deuteronomy 11-14, Psalm 137

• Moses goes over the blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience; reminding the people that their children have not witnessed the glory of the Lord traveling with them via cloud and establishing a relationship with Israel — and that the land will respond to faithfulness.

• Moses again reminds the Israelites to reject pagan worship practices, warns against false prophets, and reiterates the levitical rules about ceremonially clean and unclean animals and that radical loyalty to God is required.

Day 93 — Friday, 4/3 — Deuteronomy 15-18, Psalm 146

• Moses continues to reiterate the levitical rules to be followed: releasing those from debt and slavery in the Sabbath years; caring for the poor; celebrating the major feasts including Passover; laws on justice, kingship, and worship; and a call to living holy in the promised land (in which again we find the Israelites must be directly told not to sacrifice their children or practice witchcraft).

• Moses tells the Israelites a new prophet will be raised up to guide them — foreshadowing Jesus

Day 94 — Saturday, 4/4 — Deuteronomy 19-22, Psalm 147

• Moses describes the events to come: the Lord will destroy the existing nations illicitly living in the Promised Land, after which the Israelites are to establish cities of refuge. He reiterates the laws of justice and warfare, and urges trust in God rather than military strength.

• Moses goes over the various civil laws that provide order to the Israelites and are to be enacted in promised land (unsolved murders, family order); laws on inheritence; laws on community responsibility and sexual ethics; and protection of life and property.

Day 95 — Sunday, 4/5 — Deuteronomy 23-26, Psalm 148

• Deuteronomy 23 opens with pretty specific rules for what I hope was a rare situation in Israel: a man whose testicles were crushed or whose penis was cut off could not be permitted entry to the assembly of the Lord. This was likely about ritualistic purity of some sort of position, but still, wow.

• Moses continues to reiterate the rules that have been established throughout the 40 years of desert wandering: regulations for assembly and camp purity; protection for vulnerable people; laws on divorce, pledges, and justice; care for the poor, widows, and foreigners; fair punishment and economic justice.

• Deuteronomy 25 is straight up funny, out of exactly what circumstances did these rules arise?

• We end this week with Moses once again asking the Israelites to wholeheartedly obey the Lord’s commands.

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This Week

We are reading:

• Numbers 16-36

• Psalms 125-126, 128-132

Summary

This week we finish Numbers.

We have the origin of the infamous red heifer prophecy — a necessary ritual before rebuilding the third temple, rooted in Numbers 19.

We meet Balaam, a pagan prophet who can hear God more clearly than most of the Israelites, and his talking donkey.

We say goodbye to Miriam and Aaron, and are reminded of Joshua.

And Moses finally gets to see the Promised Land — knowing that he will never enter it.

This Bible study is free for everyone, made possible by the support of our paid subscribers.

If you’d like to support us, please consider a paid subscription. Paid subscribers receive:

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• The entire archive of content on health and wellness, secret societies, and more (50+ articles)

  Subscribe now

Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 82 — Monday, 3/23 —Numbers 16-18, Psalm 125

• Day 83 — Tuesday, 3/24 — Numbers 19-21, Psalm 126

• Day 84 — Wednesday, 3/25 — Numbers 22-24, Psalm 128

• Day 85 — Thursday, 3/26 — Numbers 25-27, Psalm 129

• Day 86 — Friday, 3/27 — Numbers 28-30, Psalm 130

• Day 87 — Saturday, 3/28 — Numbers 31-33, Psalm 131

• Day 88 — Sunday, 3/29 — Numbers 34-36, Psalm 132

Day 82 — Monday, 3/23 —Numbers 16-18, Psalm 125

• Korah leads a rebellion against Moses and the earth literally opens up and swallows them whole? Lord, I pray you bring upon my enemies this kind of divine judgment 🙏

• The people are still grumbling about Moses and Aaron so God has Moses present a staff from each tribe — and miraculously, Aarons staff sprouts ripe almonds, signifying his authority as a chosen leader

Day 83 — Tuesday, 3/24 — Numbers 19-21, Psalm 126

• We encounter a lot of the “weirder” parts of scripture this week — including the red heifer prophecy. This is one of the Bible’s most cryptic rites. The ashes of the red heifer purify the unclean, however those who prepare it become unclean themselves.

• Miriam dies.

• Water again becomes a prominent storyline. Moses is told by God to impress the ever-complaining Israelites by speaking over a rock and getting water to flow from it — but in frustration, he strikes the rock, and though water flows, it costs him entry into the promised land.

• Aaron dies, before reaching the promised land.

• Then comes yet another strange story: after the Israelites complain about their circumstances yet again, saying they hate manna, fiery serpents overrun the camp. God tells Moses to form a bronze serpent and attach it to a pole. The people are healed of snake bites by looking directly at the image of what afflicts them. Is this the world’s first brush with homeopathy?

• There is mention of The Book of the Wars of the Lord — a lost book of the Bible that I would love to read.

Day 84 — Wednesday, 3/25 — Numbers 22-24, Psalm 128

• The King of Moab, afraid of the Israelites, sends for Balaam to curse them. Balaam, a foreign prophet who is able to perceive God more clearly than Israel, refuses to curse the Israelites as God tells him they have been blessed.

• Not only can Balaam hear God — his donkey clearly sees the Angel of the Lord multiple times. After the third time, God gives the donkey they ability to talk — by unbinding his mouth — seemingly confirming that animals used to be able to talk but are now bound. Balaam then is only able to speak the words the Lord allows to come from his mouth, which again, seems metaphorical.

• Balak, King of Moab, repeatedly tries to get Balaam to curse the Israelites — however, Balaam is constrained and can only bless them as God has.

Day 85 — Thursday, 3/26 — Numbers 25-27, Psalm 129

• Ok, as if the talking donkey wasn’t crazy enough, the Israelites quickly fall into idolatry and sexual deviance as they worshop Baal with the Moabites. God is furious and hits the Israelites with a plague — until Phinehas, Aaron’s grandson, drives a spear through an Israelite man and Midianite woman mid-act and stops it — but not before 24,000 people died.

• How do we know 24,000 people died? The census! Which they take again in the wake of this idolatrous destruction — documenting that all the Israelites of Moses and Aaron’s generation have now died off (except Caleb and Joshua), meaning the next generation can now inhabit the promised land.

• Zelophehad’s daughters challenge inheritance laws — and win. Proving that God is a feminist lol jk, He is simply just and fair.

Day 86 — Friday, 3/27 — Numbers 28-30, Psalm 130

• On the precipice of entering the promised land, Moses is given yet another dense set of sacrifice rules.

• Then vows are addressed, particularly those made by women. A father or husband can nullify them — a callback to Adam’s neglected responsibility for Eve.

Day 87 — Saturday, 3/28 — Numbers 31-33, Psalm 131

• Moses is instructed to go to war against the Midianites, as his final earthly battle to lead the Israelites to the promised land. When the Israelite leaders spare the women, Moses tells them not to, since those very women were those that followed Balaam’s teaching to seduce the Israelite men to worship Baal.

Day 88 — Sunday, 3/29 — Numbers 34-36, Psalm 132

• God maps out the promised land in detail — telling Moses the boundaries of the land they are to inhabit, and assigning territories to the tribes.

This Week

We are reading:

• Jubilees 45-50

• Numbers 1-15

• Psalms 113, 116, 117, 118, 120, 121, 123

Summary

This week we are wrapping up Jubilees’ commentary on Genesis and Exodus and returning to desert wandering in Numbers.

I think it’s really interesting to read the books of the Bible that some traditions consider in the canon and others do not. Jubilees is one of those books — in the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible, but not in the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, or Protestant Bibles.

One of the things we tend to do in modern Christian circles — especially in America, and most especially today in an era when new age Christian gnosticism seems to have permeated much of our culture — is we try to make really black and white demarcations between what Christianity is and what it isn’t. This is a really important exercise, but it tends to leave some people in a place where they have a lot more questions than answers. And these unanswered questions can actually lead people out of the faith.

Jubilees illustrates this really well. It’s not in the canon of the Christian tradition I most closely adhere to, I don’t treat every word as gospel — but I do think the text is historically and theologically important, and I do think there may be truths it contains that are not anywhere else in the Bible.

Is it necessary for salvation? No.

Is it interesting? Sure.

And most importantly — does it contradict the Bible or lead people astray? No, it doesn’t. (There are narrative differences but they aren’t salvific.)

On to Numbers!

Numbers is the story of the Israelites journeying through the desert on their way to the Promised Land. It also contains two census’, which helps to ground these events in actual history.

Will the Israelites follow Moses willingly? Will they do as God commands? Will they complain?

Let’s find out!

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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 75 — Monday, 3/16 — Jubilees 45-47, Psalm 113

• Day 76 — Tuesday, 3/17 — Jubilees 48-50, Psalm 116

• Day 77 — Wednesday, 3/18 — Numbers 1-3, Psalm 117

• Day 78 — Thursday, 3/19 — Numbers 4-6, Psalm 118

• Day 79 — Friday, 3/20 — Numbers 7-9, Psalm 120

• Day 80 — Saturday, 3/21 — Numbers 10-12, Psalm 121

• Day 81 — Sunday, 3/22 — Numbers 13-15, Psalm 123

Day 75 — Monday, 3/16 — Jubilees 45-47, Psalm 113

• Jacob learns that Joseph is alive and ruler in Egypt, God appears to Jacob and reassures him that going to Egypt is part of the divine plan, and Jacob travels to Egypt with his entire family.

• Jacob reunites with Joseph after many years apart and the family settles in the land of Goshen, where they prosper and multiply.

• Jacob blesses his twelve sons before he dies

• Then we shift to the story of Moses as we move narratively into Exodus, and the angels explain to Moses how he fits into the story thus far. Turns out, Jacobs family has prospered and multiplied a little too much for the Pharaoh’s liking.

• One interesting note in this section — Jacob gives sacred patriarchal writings to Levi to preserve and protect

Day 76 — Tuesday, 3/17 — Jubilees 48-50, Psalm 116

• Jubilees 48 has a very interesting story about Mastema (Satan) testing Moses on his way back to Egypt. Is this an explanation of the weird circumcision story in Exodus?

• The expanded Passover rules presented in Jubilees 49 are interesting

• The Sabbath rules in Jubilees 50 are more extreme than presented in Leviticus and — given how extreme the plagues were — I am somewhat inclined to believe that the original rules were this extreme

Day 77 — Wednesday, 3/18 — Numbers 1-3, Psalm 117

• Now we’re back in the books everyone agrees are canon: Numbers.

• God orders Moses to take a census of the Israelites

• God tells Moses how to organize the camps around the Tabernacle, with the Levites closest to it

Day 78 — Thursday, 3/19 — Numbers 4-6, Psalm 118

• As God lays out the duties of the Levites, we have an interesting note here that only the Gershonites may transport holy objects because if the others touch them they will die

• We are introduced to purity laws around isolation of the “unclean” — those with skin diseases, discharge, contact with a dead body, etc — to preserve health in the camp, and holiness in God’s dwelling

• We are introduced to the concept of confession as a repentance for sin

• In Numbers 5 we learn about a ritual curse administered by the preist for secretly philandering women, which I feel like should be administered to both sexes tbh

• We also learn about the Nazirite vow to consecrate oneself to the Lord, which involves avoiding wine and beer, vinegar, and anything produced by the grapevine; not cutting your hair; and avoiding contact with dead bodies. Easy peasy.

Day 79 — Friday, 3/20 — Numbers 7-9, Psalm 120

• The leaders of the twelve tribes bring dedication offerings for the Tabernacle

• The Levites are formally dedicated to serve God as priests

• The Israelites celebrate the second annual Passover

• God leads the Israelites with a cloud over the Tabernacle that appears like fire at night. Whenever the cloud moves, they move. Kind of amazing and I would love to see this.

Day 80 — Saturday, 3/21 — Numbers 10-12, Psalm 121

• God tells Moses to make two silver trumpets to signal gatherings, travel, and war

• Israel finally leaves Mount Sinai and travels towards the Promised Land

• The Israelites complain about food, even though they’re being lead by a CLOUD OF FIRE WHO PROVIDES THEIR DAILY BREAD. God sends quail as a response to their demand for meat — so much meat in fact that they will eat it for a month and have it coming out of their noses and will hate it. Oh, and He also sends a plague. Are you happy now?!

• Miriam and Aaron question Moses’ authority and Miriam is struck with leprosy for it — which turns her hand white, a known effect of fungal conditions called tinea versicolor

Day 81 — Sunday, 3/22 — Numbers 13-15, Psalm 123

• Numbers 13 sees 12 Israelite spies sent out to scout the land of Canaan, the Promised Land, and well, well, well what do they find but GIANTS.

• When the Israelites find out there are giants in Canaan, they panic and refuse to enter the Promised Land. God punishes them, saying they will wander in the wilderness for 40 years until the next generation grows some balls outgrows the sins of their fathers and inhabits the Promised Land.

Are the Israelites insufferable? Yes.

Do I also understand how frustrating it must have been to be led out of slavery to a Promised Land where you have to fight off giants?

I mean yeah, I get it.

This Week

We are reading:

• Jubilees 25-44

• Psalms 100, 102, 105, 106, 107, 111, 112

Summary

This week we are once again continuing with Genesis REDUX.

Are you guys enjoying reading this? Should I include it in the Bible study next year? This is my first year using this annual plan so let me know how it’s going for you. I feel like really digging deep into the early world helps us understand Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy — and the entire setup of the Biblical narrative — but reading the entirety of Jubilees may be too much. However, I do really like getting the names of the women, and it’s super interesting to learn the precise dates and times of everything (in jubilee years).

But let me know in the comments and the chat how you’re feeling about reading this!

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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 68 — Monday, 3/9 — Jubilees 25-27, Psalm 100

• Day 69 — Tuesday, 3/10 — Jubilees 28-30, Psalm 102

• Day 70 — Wednesday, 3/11 — Jubilees 31-33, Psalm 105

• Day 71 — Thursday, 3/12 — Jubilees 34-36, Psalm 106

• Day 72 — Friday, 3/13 — Jubilees 37-38, Psalm 107

• Day 73 — Saturday, 3/14 — Jubilees 39-41, Psalm 111

• Day 74 — Sunday, 3/15 — Jubilees 42-44, Psalm 112

Day 68 — Monday, 3/9 — Jubilees 25-27, Psalm 100

• Rebekah tells Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman like Esau did

• Jacob steals Esau’s blessing

Day 69 — Tuesday, 3/10 — Jubilees 28-30, Psalm 102

• Jacob works for Laban for 7 years in exchange for Rachel, but is given Leah instead — and is given Rachel as originally promised when he agrees to work 7 more years

• Gilead has 15 foot tall giants whose land spreads from Mount Hermon

• The Dinah story is repeated — and we learn that she was only 12 years old

Day 70 — Wednesday, 3/11 — Jubilees 31-33, Psalm 105

• Reuben sleeps with Jacob (his dad’s) concubine Bilhah, necessitating a whole chapter of rules in Leviticus. Side note: it is written in Jubilees 33:8 that Reuben uncovered the covering of his father, the same language used in the story of Noah and Ham

Day 71 — Thursday, 3/12 — Jubilees 34-36, Psalm 106

• We get more women’s names — that of all of Jacob’s daughters-in-law

• Joseph’s brothers sell him to Potiphar and it causes immense grief in the family, resulting in the deaths of Bilhah and Dinah

• Rebekah settles things between Jacob and Esau

• Rebekah and Isaac both die

Day 72 — Friday, 3/13 — Jubilees 37-38, Psalm 107

• The Book of Jubilees’ characterization of the relationship between Jacob and Esau is quite different than Genesis, with Esau and his sons attacking Jacob after Isaac’s death, and the resulting conflict ending in Esau’s death

Day 73 — Saturday, 3/14 — Jubilees 39-41, Psalm 111

• Joseph begins his career in Egypt, becomes imprisoned due to Potiphar’s wife’s false accusations

• Joseph successfully interprets dreams

• Tamar tricks Judah, gives birth to twins, resulting in more laws handed down to Moses

Day 74 — Sunday, 3/15 — Jubilees 42-44, Psalm 112

• Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt and make a plea

• Joseph is harsh and tests them before he ultimately reveals himself

• Jacob comes to Egypt with his family

This week is kind of brief since we’ve read these stories before, but I do find the differences in the differences interesting. What do you think? Let me know in the chat and the comments below!

This Week

We are reading:

• Jubilees 4-24

• Psalms 33, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99

Summary

This week we continue our Genesis redux as we read through Jubilees.

One of the most exciting things we learn through Jubilees is the names of women, wives, sisters, daughters from Genesis.

Jubilees also gives us much more precise dates and time periods, mostly measured in “jubilees” — seven “weeks” of seven years, totaling 49 years and then followed by a jubilee year.

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If you’d like to support us, please consider a paid subscription. Paid subscribers receive:

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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 61 — Monday, 3/2 — Jubilees 4-6, Psalm 33

• Day 62 — Tuesday, 3/3 — Jubilees 7-9, Psalm 94

• Day 63 — Wednesday, 3/4 — Jubilees 10-12, Psalm 95

• Day 64 — Thursday, 3/5 — Jubilees 13-15, Psalm 96

• Day 65 — Friday, 3/6 — Jubilees 16-18, Psalm 97

• Day 66 — Saturday, 3/7 — Jubilees 19-21, Psalm 98

• Day 67 — Sunday, 3/8 — Jubilees 22-24, Psalm 99
  

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Day 61 — Monday, 3/2 — Jubilees 4-6, Psalm 33

• In Jubilees 4, we get the names of Adam and Eve’s daughters — Awan and Azura. Awan becomes Cain’s wife and it’s interesting that her name means eye, or to watch (with jealosy). Azura’s name, maybe obviously, means sky blue.

• We learn that Adam and Eve had 14 total children

• We learn more names of the sister-wives: Seth has a daughter named Noam (meaning pleasantness, beauty, favor, delight), who married Enosh; they have a daughter named Mualelit (meaning God is my strength) who marries their son Kenan (or Cainan, not to be confused with Canaan).

• Enoch is introduced, once again as the inventor of writing, and the author of a book of the stars so that humans would know the seasons. Enoch’s wife is named Edni, meaning gracious or merciful. Their son Methuselah’s wife is Edna, meaning pleasure, delight, or rejuvenation. And their son Lamech marries a woman named Betanosh, who is Noah’s mom. Noah marries a woman named Emzara, which means mother of a princess or ancestor of Sarah.

• In support of the cosmic mountain idea — the angels dictating Jubilees say there are four places on earth that belong to the Lord: the Garden of Eden, the mountain of the east, Mount Sinai, and Mount Zion.

• I don’t talk about gematria much anymore because it’s too much for the masses — but Jubilees 5:22 mentions that Noah’s ark is made in the 27th jubilee of years, which is curious because 27 often represents sacrifice in our modern culture (like the 27 club)

Day 62 — Tuesday, 3/3 — Jubilees 7-9, Psalm 94

• Noah’s daughters-in-laws names are:

  • Neelatamauk (Ham’s wife) - meaning land/territory of the valley or inheritance of what is destroyed

  • Adataneses (Japheth’s wife) - meaning unclear

  • Sedeqatelebab (Shem’s wife) - meaning justice/righteousness of heart

• Kainan, grandson of Shem, finds an inscription on a rock containing the astrological, celestial, and divinatory teachings of the fallen angels — and sins, following the instruction, and showing us how the forbidden knowledge proliferated post-flood

• All the land gets divided between Noah’s sons and grandsons — and one curious note is that Kainan’s dad, Aparchshad, gets the Chaldean region which originates Chaldean numerology, probably from the inscription on the rock

Day 63 — Wednesday, 3/4 — Jubilees 10-12, Psalm 95

• Demons begin to lead astray Noah’s grandchildren. Noah asks God to intervene, and he directs the angels to imprison the demons. But then Mastema (which means enmity, and is another name for Satan) claims he cannot exert free will with the demons imprisoned. God allows 10% of nephilim spirits to remain on earth as demons, while 9/10ths are cast down in judgment.

• Noah is taught by the angels how to combat the diseases inflicted upon humanity by demons using the plants of the earth, he writes down a book of herbology and passes it down to Shem.

• Abram is born to Terah, who worships idols. We get an interesting backstory for Abra(ha)m — he chastises his dad for worshipping idols and one night secretly sets fire to the temple of idols. God calls Abram to go to a new land — and imparts unto him the language of Hebrew, which had been lost at the tower of Babel.

Day 64 — Thursday, 3/5 — Jubilees 13-15, Psalm 96

• We get a retelling of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac — but it’s not nearly as funny as Genesis.

• In Jubilees 15:31 we learn that God has “made spirits rule over all in order to lead them astray from following him” — which bolsters the notion of territorial spirits

Day 65 — Friday, 3/6 — Jubilees 16-18, Psalm 97

• In Jubilees 16, Sarah laughs and we learn about Sodom and Gomorrah again, as well as the judgment on Lot’s unholy descendants

• In this commentary on the near-sacrifice of Isaac, we learn that God was proving a point about Abraham’s faithfulness to shame Satan (Mastema). So now it’s a Job redux!

Day 66 — Saturday, 3/7 — Jubilees 19-21, Psalm 98

• Abraham gives his final plea and warning to his family against worshipping idols and keeping God’s covenant

Day 67 — Sunday, 3/8 — Jubilees 22-24, Psalm 99

• The ages of humans have reduced due to sinfulness, to 70-80 years — but Jubilees describes a time in which the children will seek to restore faithfulness to God’s commands and will increase the lifespans again to 1000 years, or more

• Esau trades his birthright for lentil porridge and it doesn’t sound any less ridiculous the second time around

What came up for you this week? Join us in the Jubilees chat to discuss!

This Week

We are reading:

• Leviticus 10-27

• Jubilees 1-3

• Psalms 87, 88, 90, 91, 92, 93, 10

Summary

This week we finish Leviticus. Some people find Leviticus boring and this is the book where a lot of people committed to reading the Bible in a year fall off.

But not the Good Book Club!

Leviticus is nuts, you guys. We’ve got multiple Moloch references. We’ve got God having to spell out to the Israelites that they are not to sacrifice their children or have sex with their moms. We’ve got the return of Azazel, the head of the watchers from the Book of Enoch, receiving the scapegoat in the wilderness in the origin of Yom Kippur.

In my (un)professional opinion, Leviticus is where God is laying out the laws of organizing an utterly chaotic and sinful world, finding a safe way to dwell with humans, and charting a path for returning humanity to holiness. Will the Israelites survive this?!

The late Dr. Michael Heiser (famous for reintroducing the cosmic worldview to modern audiences) thought Leviticus was an incredibly supernatural book that evolved out of the events of Genesis 6 — reaffirming and reestablishing the boundaries around humanity’s holiness in the wake of corruption from fallen angels. He hosted The Naked Bible podcast, an excellent resource that dives very deep into scripture with a cosmic worldview.

And then we begin Jubilees, which is commonly referred to a little Genesis — but with more detail. I am so excited for a Genesis REDUX!!!

But I also want to forewarn you a bit that everyone is gonna need to get real cool about a bunch of stuff really quickly. Jubilees elaborates on the stories told in Genesis and adds details that many of us have never heard before. It also differs slightly from Genesis in perspective. But not really in major ways.

Jubilees is likely the first ever commentary on Genesis and parts of Exodus.

Jubilees is only considered canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox church. However, it is historically relevant, and many church fathers did treat it as scripture or close to it — because remember, most of the church fathers were operating from the perspective of having dozens of scrolls that were relevant for different educational purposes and they weren’t so black and white about what was “in” and “out” because they didn’t have a singular printed book of the Bible. I think some people think if a book isn’t in the Bible it’s heretical, but that’s not true — it’s simply not considered AS important.

The Book of Jubilees is not nearly as “out there” as the Book of Enoch though, so I think this group is going to have fun reading this book and comparing some details to the stories in Genesis.

If you don’t have a copy of the Book of Jubilees, you can find it online here.

Merch Store Revamp

Heads up that the Capitalism & Glitter Merch Store is undergoing a change in the pricing structure in March, which will increase prices by a few dollars. If you have been eyeing a sweatshirt or any other products, now is the time to buy at the lowest prices we will ever offer.

We will also be launching new products, so be on the lookout for that!

This Bible study is free for everyone, made possible by the support of our paid subscribers.

If you’d like to support us, please consider a paid subscription. Paid subscribers receive:

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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 54 — Monday, 2/23 — Leviticus 10-12, Psalm 87

• Day 55 — Tuesday, 2/24 — Leviticus 13-15, Psalm 88

• Day 56 — Wednesday, 2/25 — Leviticus 16-18, Psalm 90

• Day 57 — Thursday, 2/26 — Leviticus 19-21, Psalm 91

• Day 58 — Friday, 2/27 — Leviticus 22-24, Psalm 92

• Day 59 — Saturday, 2/28 — Leviticus 25-27, Psalm 93

• Day 60 — Sunday, 3/1 — Jubilees 1-3, Psalm 10

Day 54 — Monday, 2/23 — Leviticus 10-12, Psalm 87

• Starting off with a bang — after being explicitly told how to prepare a fire fit for God, Aaron’s sons offer some sort of “unholy” or “unauthorized” fire to the Lord, and are immediately consumed by God’s fiery presence. At first glance, this story may seem harsh for what seems to be a minor offense (killed for the wrong kind of fire?) — but when you dig into the original Hebrew and the background of this story, it sounds like the boys may have been making a forbidden pagan fire, possibly using knowledge that humans shouldn’t have had.

• The unclean animals are really interesting — they are scavengers, carnivores, and bottom-feeders who tend to eat decaying meat or other animals (i.e. vultures) — meaning they are riddled with parasites, diseases, and toxins harmful to human health. I wonder if the unclean animals resulted from the watchers sinning against animals as we learned in Genesis and Enoch.

Day 55 — Tuesday, 2/24 — Leviticus 13-15, Psalm 88

• Chapters 13 and 14 of Leviticus deal with mold in houses and leprosy, a condition clearly associated with mold illness. We dive deep into these chapters in our article coming out on Wednesday detailing how the Bible associates leprosy with mold illness, and outlining a biblical approach to remediating mold.

Day 56 — Wednesday, 2/25 — Leviticus 16-18, Psalm 90

• The things God has to spell out in Leviticus 18 are absolutely insane to me. “Don’t do what they do in Canaan — don’t sacrifice your children to demons, for that is a bad thing to do. Don’t have sex with your mom, for she is your mom. Don’t have sex with animals, because that’s disgusting. And you know what, let me just go ahead and list all the other family members you shouldn’t have sex with because it seems unclear to some of you.”

• In Leviticus 16, in the origin of Yom Kippur, we learn that Azazel, head of the Watchers, is somewhere out in the wilderness and the word scapegoat is a reference to a goat that carries the sins of Israel out into the wilderness to Azazel

• Another interesting point in Leviticus 17:11 is that “the life of the body is in the blood”

Day 57 — Thursday, 2/26 — Leviticus 19-21, Psalm 91

• The direction in Leviticus 19 not to breed two kinds of animals, not to mix two kinds of seeds, not to mix two things together is a clear callback to Genesis 6 and the forbidden mixing of species. It’s also inspiring me to keep sticking to 100% cotton and linen in my postpartum wardrobe overhaul.

• I think we should bring back the laws of Leviticus 20.

Day 58 — Friday, 2/27 — Leviticus 22-24, Psalm 92

• Leviticus 23 outlines God’s holy appointed feasts, structured seasonally — and foreshadowing Jesus

• Leviticus 24 lays out laws designed to prevent disproportionate revenge, which we’ve seen play out before (e.g. Genesis 34).

Day 59 — Saturday, 2/28 — Leviticus 25-27, Psalm 93

• Leviticus 25 talks about Jubilees, discusses the calendar, and emphasizes a rhythm that includes rest to recalibrate and support all aspects of life.

• The idea that God owns the land and Israel are the tenants is quite radical, as are the other ideas outlined about economic fairness and equity — God explicitly forbids usury, or lending money at high rates.

Day 60 — Sunday, 3/1 — Jubilees 1-3, Psalm 10

• In Jubilees 1, God predicts how the Israelites will violate the laws of the covenant resulting in their exile — however, they will be restored in the future. Moses is like… couldn’t you just restore us now? But God says NOPE.

• Jubilees 2 discusses the natural laws of the world God created as a retelling of Genesis 1-2 — most interesting note here may be that great sea monsters were God’s first “fleshly” productions

• Jubilees 2-3 are a retelling of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden — and the most interesting notes here are that Adam and Eve lived in the Garden for 7 years until they sinned, and all the animals used to be able to talk.

Update on the chats — the chats have calmed down a bit so I am starting a new chat for each book. We’ll see how that goes. The Leviticus chat is open now and I will start the Jubilees chat this week. Thanks for being flexible as the chats evolve!

This Week

We are reading:

• Exodus 31-40

• Leviticus 1-9

• Psalms 115, 80, 81, 2, 83, 84, 85

Summary

This week we continue Exodus and we get a lot of interaction between God and Moses on the top of Mount Sinai. The mountains are often used as a meeting place between Heaven and Earth.

The Israelites are impatient, tempestuous, and weak. Honestly, I used to have a harder time understanding God in the Old Testament, but reading it now I get it. They’re so annoying! These people were just rescued from centuries of slavery to the Egyptians and they can’t go 5 minutes without complaining, and then they build a golden cow?!

Maybe becoming a parent has helped me understand how the depths of both love and wrath can coexist in the same moment.

Fortunately, Moses redeems the Israelites and intercedes on their behalf with God — foreshadowing Jesus. They build the Tabernacle, precisely according to God’s instructions, showing they can follow directions… when they feel like it.

The Tabernacle stands in place of the mountain as a meeting place of heaven and earth. It is akin to a mini-Eden, a place where God dwells among humans. Other parallels between Eden and the Tabernacle include the east-facing entrance guarded by cherubim, the gold, the tree of life (lampstand), and the tree of knowledge (the law). In the Old Testament, God dwells in the Tabernacle, but in the New Testament, Jesus becomes the true Tabernacle.

This Bible study is free for everyone, made possible by the support of our paid subscribers.

If you’d like to support us, please consider a paid subscription. Paid subscribers receive:

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After we wrap up Exodus this week, we are beginning Leviticus. For now that we again have a dwelling place for the Lord here on Earth, we need to understand the rules around His holy dwelling.

While Leviticus has a reputation for being boring, this book is important for laying out in detail the ordinary management of sin. God, in all His holiness, is working out a way to dwell with a humanity that has become downtrodden by sin.

One thing to note at the outset of Leviticus is that “unclean” (Hebrew: tamei) doesn’t necessarily mean sinful—it means ritually impure. We’ll see that contact with carcasses, certain animals, or bodily fluids required washing and waiting until evening to become clean — a consequence of unholiness permeating earth and being in physical conflict with holiness, Heaven, and God Himself.

Lent

I’ve been asked to incorporate some more primers on Christianity in general as we continue reading through the Bible. Last week I provided a general overview of the Sacraments, and this week I’m covering Lent — which starts Wednesday, February 18.

Lent is the season of fasting, prayer, and repentance observed by many Christians during the 40 days leading up to Easter. It is a commemoration of Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the wilderness before beginning His public ministry, which we will discuss when we get to the New Testament.

The practice developed in the early Church as a period of preparation for catechumens (those studying to be Christian) before baptism at Easter, and later became a broader penitential season for all believers. Today it is formally observed in traditions such as the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and many Protestant communities.

The number forty carries deep biblical symbolism of testing, purification, and transformation:

• 40 days and nights of rain during the flood (Book of Genesis 7:12)

• Moses fasting 40 days on Mount Sinai (Book of Exodus 34:28)

• Elijah’s 40-day journey to Horeb (First Book of Kings 19:8)

• Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness (Book of Numbers 14:33–34)

Lent symbolically places believers in the wilderness with Jesus, stripping away distractions so that the resurrection joy of Easter may be received with renewed depth.

How to Practice Lent

Here are some practical ways you can engage in Lent to meaningfully deepen your faith. Consider practicing a few of the following:

• Attend a service or mass on Ash Wednesday (February 18th) and receive ashes on your forehead

• Pray more

  • Set a daily prayer time

  • Continue reading the Bible in a year!

• Fast

  • Skip meat on Fridays (fish is ok)

  • Engage in healthy fasting

  • Give up something that creates comfort (social media, sweets/chocolate, alcohol, entertainment, etc.)

• Practice almsgiving

  • Give to or serve those in need

• Repent

  • Examine your conscience intentionally

  • Confess specific sins (to a priest or God directly)

Daily Summaries

Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 47 — Monday, 2/16 — Exodus 31-33, Psalm 115

• Day 48 — Tuesday, 2/17 — Exodus 34-36, Psalm 80

• Day 49 — Wednesday, 2/18 — Exodus 37-38, Psalm 81

• Day 50 — Thursday, 2/19 — Exodus 39-40, Psalm 2

• Day 51 — Friday, 2/20 — Leviticus 1-3, Psalm 83

• Day 52 — Saturday, 2/21 — Leviticus 4-6, Psalm 84

• Day 53 — Sunday, 2/22 — Leviticus 7-9, Psalm 85

Day 47 — Monday, 2/16 — Exodus 31-33, Psalm 115

• Bezalel (from the tribe of Judah) and Oholiab (from the tribe of Dan) are filled with the Spirit of God for artistic craftsmanship — which is the first explicit mention of someone being Spirit-filled for creativity, not prophecy or warfare. We were made in His image to be creative ✨

• Moses meets with God on the top of Mount Sinai and is gone for 40 days. The Israelites freak out and demand Aaron create a new god to lead them out of the wilderness, and he makes a golden calf.

• God is SO PISSED, and rightfully so. Moses intercedes, foreshadowing Jesus. The covenant tablets are literally and symbolically shattered.

• We have a weird scene in which Moses asks to see God and is only shown His “hind parts” because no one can see His face and live. It’s pretty clear through this and other scenes that there is a scientific reason that we cannot survive seeing God’s face or being directly in His presence — as though our very DNA has been sinfully corrupted from the beginning.

Day 48 — Tuesday, 2/17 — Exodus 34-36, Psalm 80

• New tablets are made as God renews the covenant with His chosen people who can’t follow simple instructions

• As the Israelites set out to wander across the desert to the Promised Land, God warns Moses not to make treaties with any of the people groups they will meet along the way. He warns that if they do make treaties, they will end up marrying their sons off to foreign daughters, who worship pagan gods — I wonder if this will come up again later?!

• Moses comes back down Mount Sinai with the stone tablets carved with the Ten Commandments and his face is shining from having spend 40 days and nights with God.

• Bezalel and Oholiab lead the construction of the Tabernacle. While this chapter seems repetitive to the earlier Tabernacle building instructions, it shows that the Israelites can follow instructions — when they want to.

Day 49 — Wednesday, 2/18 — Exodus 37-38, Psalm 81

• The Israelites build the Ark of the Covenant (which sits above the law), the Table of Showbread (representing communion), the Lampstand, the Altar of Incense, the Altar of Burnt Offering (at the entrance to the Tabernacle, where access to God begins with a sacrifice), the Washbasin, and the Courtyard.

Day 50 — Thursday, 2/19 — Exodus 39-40, Psalm 2

• Bezalel makes the ephod and the breastpiece with 12 gemstones (one for each tribe).

• God descends down the mountain and His presence fills the completed Tabernacle in the form of a cloud. He continues to dwell with Israel in the Tabernacle along their journey, appearing as a cloud during the day and at night appearing with fire inside.

Day 51 — Friday, 2/20 — Leviticus 1-3, Psalm 83

• In our introduction to Leviticus, we learn about the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the peace offering.

Day 52 — Saturday, 2/21 — Leviticus 4-6, Psalm 84

• Next we learn about sin offerings (covering unintentional sins) and guilt offerings. For even if our sin is unintentional, it requires atonement. Ignorance does not negate impact.

• Blood is used regularly as a cleansing mediator, as it contains life and purifies the contamination of death.

Day 53 — Sunday, 2/22 — Leviticus 7-9, Psalm 85

• Moses washes, clothes, anoints, and consecrates Aaron and his sons. He applies blood to their right ear (anointing what they hear), right thumb (anointing what they touch), and right big toe (anointing where they walk).

• Aaron then offers sacrifices for himself, then the people, and God consumes the sacrifices as a divine fire of approval.

As we wrap up this week, I want to just meditate for a moment on the thought of a massively powerful God, greater than any of the other gods they’ve ever seen performing their little magic tricks in Egypt. God dwells with them night and day in a Tabernacle they regularly throw up, tear down, and carry with them through the desert — appearing as a cloud by day, a fiery cloud by night, and divine fire approval when they get the sacrifices right.

Wow.

…let’s read on to find out if they continue disobedience in the face of an immensely powerful God!

This Week

We are reading:

• Exodus 10-30

• Psalm 114, 77, 78, 79, 119

Summary

We’re continuing the story of Exodus this week, and God repeatedly hardens Pharaoh’s heart for the plot.

Pharaoh continues going back and forth about letting God’s people go. The plagues culminate in the Passover origin story. Pharaoh finally decides to release the Israelites, who begin the exodus out of Egypt, when he changes his mind again and chases after them — culminating in Moses’ infamous parting of the Red Sea, which allows the Israelites to escape while, at the last minute, the waves crash down and wipe out the Egyptian army.

The Israelites then wander in the wilderness, where they IMMEDIATELY complain about being freed from slavery. God provides water and food in the form of manna and quail. He reveals Himself to Moses at Mount Sinai, delivering the Ten Commandments, and establishing the laws that shape Israel’s moral, social, and religious life. God’s covenent expands the people formally enter into covenant with God, and detailed instructions are given for building the tabernacle, its furnishings, and the priesthood, emphasizing that the God who saved them intends to dwell among them and be worshiped according to His holiness.

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The Sacraments

Exodus begins to foreshadow the sacraments.

The sacraments are sacred Christian rites, which are considered to be representative of God.

Different traditions hold different beliefs about the sacraments. In a nutshell, Catholic and Orthodox traditions believe the sacraments confer God’s grace, whereas Protestants believe they are symbolic acts of obedience. Simply put, in the former tradition, sacraments confer action by God, and in the latter sacraments are an action taken by a believer.

Catholic and Orthodox traditions have 7 sacraments, and Protestants only recognize 2 (numbers 1 and 3 on this list):

1. Baptism — Entry into the Christian life; washes away sin and makes you part of God’s family and begins a new life in Christ

2. Confirmation —Strengthening of baptismal grace; seals you with the Holy Spirit and gives spiritual strength to live the faith publicly

3. Eucharist (Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper) — The Body and Blood of Christ; nourishes the soul and unites believers with Jesus and each other

4. Reconciliation (Confession) — God’s forgiveness after sin; restores relationship with God and brings healing and peace

5. Anointing of the Sick — Prayer and anointing for the ill or suffering; brings spiritual (and sometimes physical) healing; gives strength in illness or near death

6. Holy Orders — Ordination for service and leadership; configures a man to Christ as deacon, priest, or bishop and serves the Church sacramentally

7. Matrimony (Marriage) — A lifelong covenant between spouses; makes God’s love visible through faithful love, and gives grace to live out marriage

They are often grouped as follows:

• Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist

• Sacraments of Healing: Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick

• Sacraments of Service: Holy Orders, Matrimony

All of the sacraments come out of the New Testament and the story of Jesus, however, as with Jesus Himself, we see a lot of foreshadowing in the Old Testament of the sacraments to come.

As we continue reading Exodus this week, we can see that Moses parting the Red Sea is a foreshadowing of baptism, leaving slavery for a new life ahead. As well, the manna that rains down to provide the Israelites with daily bread is a foreshadowing of the Eucharist.

Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 40 — Monday, 2/9 — Exodus 10-12, Psalm 114

• Day 41 — Tuesday, 2/10 — Exodus 13-15, Psalm 77

• Day 42 — Wednesday, 2/11 — Exodus 16-18, Psalm 78

• Day 43 — Thursday, 2/12 — Exodus 19-21, Psalm 79

• Day 44 — Friday, 2/13 — Exodus 22-24, Psalm 119:1-56

• Day 45 — Saturday, 2/14 — Exodus 25-27, Psalm 119:57-88

• Day 46 — Sunday, 2/15 — Exodus 28-30, Psalm 119:89-177

Day 40 — Monday, 2/9 — Exodus 10-12, Psalm 114

• God sends the last plagues on Egypt: locusts and darkness, then the devastating death of the firstborn.

• God institutes the Passover, marking Israel’s doors with lamb’s blood so death “passes over” them.

• Pharaoh finally lets the Israelites go.

• Israel leaves Egypt after 400+ years of slavery, carrying gold and silver from the Egyptians.

Day 41 — Tuesday, 2/10 — Exodus 13-15, Psalm 77

• Moses takes Joseph’s bones with him as they leave Egypt.

• God leads them with a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night.

• Pharaoh changes his mind and pursues Israel.

• God parts the Red Sea — Israel crosses safely, and the waves crash down before the Egyptian army can make it to the other side, destroying them.

• Moses and the people sing a song of victory.

Day 42 — Wednesday, 2/11 — Exodus 16-18, Psalm 78

• Following this miraculous freedom from Egypt, the Israelites immediately begin complaining about Moses, Aaron, saying they were better off as slaves of Egypt than they are wandering in the wilderness. They had owned nothing, and they were happy.

• God provides water, manna, and quail to eat. Moses is instructed to strike a rock to draw water, and manna rained down onto the ground and was collected each morning.

• Israel defeats the Amalekites with God’s help.

• Moses’ father-in-law Jethro witnesses Moses taking common complaints from 9 to 5 every day and advises him to delegate leadership.

Day 43 — Thursday, 2/12 — Exodus 19-21, Psalm 79

• Israel arrives at Mount Sinai.

• God reveals His presence with thunder, fire, and smoke. (Yet another instance of mythology copying God when the secular world claims it’s the other way around.)

• God gives the Ten Commandments and additional laws are given about justice, worship, and daily life.

  • God instructs the Israelites how to build an altar — and explicitly tells them not to build idols out of silver or gold.

• God gives a lot of rules about how to handle slavery. It’s uncomfortable for a modern reader, but it’s important to read this was clearly a very different time, with God’s people still recovering in a fallen world.

Day 44 — Friday, 2/13 — Exodus 22-24, Psalm 119:1-56

• God continues laying out rules that don’t make sense to us in modern times, but we have to remember that there was basically no moral code at this time. God literally had to tell them not to exploit widows and orphans.

• God makes a formal covenant with Israel; the people agree to obey and eat a meal with God. This covenant differs from the covenant with Abraham in that it does require that the people follow the laws given in order to receive bestowed blessings.

• Moses ascends Mount Sinai to receive further instructions.

  

Day 45 — Saturday, 2/14 — Exodus 25-27, Psalm 119:57-88

• God gives detailed instructions for building the Tabernacle, where He will dwell among His people. Descriptions include the Ark of the Covenant, the Table of Showbread, the Golden Lampstand, the altar, courtyard, and olive oil to keep the lamps perpetually burning

• I often neglect the Psalms and Proverbs in my weekly write-ups in favor of discussing the narrative in the main books we are reading — but this week we are reading the longest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 119. It is an alphabetic acrostic, with 22 sections (one for each Hebrew letter), 8 verses per section, and every verse in the section starting with the same Hebrew letter. This chapter is a way of saying: “From A to Z, all of life is meant to be shaped by God’s Word.” And, man, the author of this Psalm was going through it.

Day 46 — Sunday, 2/15 — Exodus 28-30, Psalm 119:89-177

• God establishes the priesthood with Aaron and his sons.

• Fun Fact! The chestpiece adorned with rows of gemstones is the basis for birthstones. (To be clear, I’m not saying birthstones are biblical, but I am saying they have a biblical origin.)

• Instructions are given to use myrrh, cinnamon, calamus (which is apparently a psychoactive herb used for medicine that is banned in the US 👀), and cassia to make incense and an anointing oil. Further instruction is given to make incense.

While a lot of the rules being laid out in Exodus seem excessive and specific, after what we’ve read in the Book of Enoch, I think the reason for the focus on holiness and order makes a lot of sense for establishing God’s closeness to His people of Israel.

Extra credit: Watch The Promised Land — a laugh-out-loud mockumentary in the style of The Office following the Israelites out of Egypt.

This Bible study is free for everyone, made possible by the support of our paid subscribers.

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This Week

We are reading:

• Job 40-42

• Enoch 72-82

• Exodus 1-9

• Psalm 50, 53, 71, 73-76

If you don’t have a hard copy of the Book of Enoch, you can find it online here.

Summary

We’re making our way through three books this week — wrapping up Job, taking another trip to the stars with Enoch, and then beginning the journey of Moses’ Exodus out of Egypt.

Job repents, admits his insignificance and how little he knows in the face of God, and is ultimately rewarded with the doubling of his riches and a long life — seeing the fruition of four generations of his progeny.

But in the end, Job is rewarded not just with the reinstatement of his material possessions and family — Job’s greatest reward is his relationship with God.

And on the heels of Job and the references to the heavenly court, we’re taking a few days to read Enoch’s detailed journey to the stars in 1 Enoch 72-82 — a section commonly referred to as The Book of the Luminaries or The Astronomical Book. The first Book of Enoch is actually 5 separate books or sections that were all written at different times, and this astronomical section was likely written second, after The Book of the Watchers.

What we learn in this section is paramount to understanding space, astrology, and our place within “the universe.” We learn that the stars are for timekeeping, and when humans sin the calendar gets corrupted — begging the question, is the very function of the universe in disarray since the fall of mankind? Did we bring the sun and the moon and the stars down with us?

And then we’re moving right along to start Exodus.

We meet Moses, Moses meets God. God tells Moses he has heard the cries of the Israelites and will deliver them with Moses’ help. Moses, like many Biblical protagonists, struggles with his calling — but God ensures his promises will be fulfilled.

When Moses approaches Pharaoh to “let my people go,” Pharaoh refuses — which does NOT go well for him. The plagues begin, and an interesting article out of Rice university details that each plague is a direct response to a specific Egyptian god.

The Book of Exodus begins to reveal once again that salvation comes from God’s faithfulness to us and not the other way around.

Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 33 — Monday, 2/2 — Job 40-42, Psalm 50

• Day 34 — Tuesday, 2/3 — Enoch 72-74, Psalm 53

• Day 35 — Wednesday, 2/4 — Enoch 75-78, Psalm 71

• Day 36 — Thursday, 2/5 — Enoch 79-82, Psalm 73

• Day 37 — Friday, 2/6 — Exodus 1-3, Psalm 74

• Day 38 — Saturday, 2/7 — Exodus 4-6, Psalm 75

• Day 39 — Sunday, 2/8 — Exodus 7-9, Psalm 76

Day 33 — Monday, 2/2 — Job 40-42, Psalm 50

• We wrap up Job with an entire chapter of God detailing the leviathan, an insane sounding sea creature that he is describing with such detail that you know this just has to be real. Sounding at once like a dragon, a dinosaur, and the loch ness monster, I cannot help but wonder what this creature actually was and where it went (or if it’s even actually disappeared).

• Job responds with humility, because of course he does. He’s now face-to-face with God, who is describing an INSANE creature — not as a metaphor but as indication of His immense power to create such a chaotic and powerful being, as well as the entire universe.

• Most importantly — God doesn’t tell Job why he has suffered. He does not give us a why, He just impresses us with His presence and knowledge — showing us that He is greater than our tiny human brains can ever understand.

Day 34 — Tuesday, 2/3 — Enoch 72-74, Psalm 53

• Uriel takes Enoch on a tour of the stars, and today we learn about the Sun and the Moon.

• Enoch describes the sun as seven times brighter than the moon — a fact repeated in Isaiah, but one that differs from our modern scientific measurements of the sun’s brightness.

• Enoch also notes the sun and the moon are the exact same size — which is true from our perspective on earth, and is how eclipses work. This is one of the facts that dragged me off the agnostic fence because what are the chances that the sun and the moon are EXACTLY the same size from the perspective of earth, without being intentionally designed that way by a Creator?

• We also learn the basis for the 364 day solar calendar, and it’s important to understand that when this was likely written it was set upon the backdrop of Jerusalem using a lunar calendar.

35 — Wednesday, 2/4 — Enoch 75-78, Psalm 71

• We learn about the gates in the sky, from which all the winds on earth emerge in different directions — as well as rain, dew, mist, hail, snow, prosperity, life, locusts, and destruction. Are there any meteorologists in the Good Book Club? Because honestly, I’m gonna need your take on this section.

• Today we learn the names of the sun and the moon and their operations — which is direct push back on paganism and astrology because it details that the sun and moon were named by God, and have roles given by God before humans even existed. Unlike in paganism and astrology, the sun and the moon do not act independently.

Day 36 — Thursday, 2/5 — Enoch 79-82, Psalm 73

• Enoch quickly shifts from taking us on a tour of the stars to telling us that the fall of man has confused the calendar, that in the days of sinners the sun and the moon will not appear at their appointed times, and that following the wrong calendar causes us to sin even more. Is this why we have a 365.25 day year, rather than the 364 day year God designed?

• 1 Enoch 80:7 is a clear and firm rebuke of astrology as divination. Reading destiny in the stars is not cosmic wisdom. It’s theological error, mistaking a demarcation of order for a source of authority on human behavior. God’s intelligently designed cosmological order is not an oracle dictating our fate — it’s a clock.

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• This section ends with the angels telling Enoch to write down the knowledge he has been given to pass down to his son Methuselah, Noah’s grandfather — and the oldest person to ever have lived — so that he can pass this knowledge down for generations to come.

Day 37 — Friday, 2/6 — Exodus 1-3, Psalm 74

• We’re now back in the days after Abraham, and Israel has indeed multiplied. So much so that their numbers threaten Pharoah, and Joseph’s deeds are long forgotten.

• Pharoah orders the death of the first born male of all Hebrews, but midwives become secret saviors who surreptitiously refuse to follow orders.

• We are introduced to Moses — author and main character of much of the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible. We are working on a future article compiling the historical evidence for Moses — stay tuned!

• God reveals Himself in the infamous burning bush. He has heard the cry of His people, and has tapped Moses to lead them to the promised land — the land of milk and honey (new candle scent idea just dropped).

• Moses, as with nearly everyone with a divine mission, questions his worthiness to lead the people of Israel. And God’s just like — don’t worry about it, I’ll make it happen and you’ll plunder Egypt.

Day 38 — Saturday, 2/7 — Exodus 4-6, Psalm 75

• Moses continues to doubt God’s plan, concerned he won’t be believed. God performs a series of miraculous signs and insists he will make the people listen, using Moses’ brother, Aaron, as a mouthpiece.

• Moses and Aaron speak with Pharaoh, telling him to let God’s people go — Pharaoh refuses, doubles the Israelites workload.

Day 39 — Sunday, 2/8 — Exodus 7-9, Psalm 76

• God hardens Pharaoh’s heart, granting Himself an opportunity to display His power.

• God turns Aaron’s staff to a serpent; Pharaoh calls his own sorcerers to turn their staffs to snakes — but Aaron’s snake eats theirs. Pharaoh remains unconvinced, so…

• The plagues begin: the Nile turns to blood, frogs overrun Egypt, lice infest people and animals, swarms of flies cover the land, Egyptian livestock die while Israelites’ livestock are spared, boils afflict Egyptians. Each time Pharaoh relents and begs for mercy, then changes his mind when the plague has ended.

Will Pharaoh’s heart be softened? Will his repentance turn into true submission to God? Tune in next week to find out! (But don’t hold your breath.)

Extra credit: Watch The Prince of Egypt — an animated children’s film about Moses

Whoops — this week’s article got long again! What can I say, I’ve got a lot of thoughts about the Bible.

Share your thoughts in the comments below and in the chat!

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This Week

We are reading:

• Job 13-39

• Psalm 17, 44-49

Note: If you have fallen behind in the reading, do not despair! Simply jump in to where we are today. If you start the readings at any point this week, all you need to know is that Job is having a bad time despite being a good guy.

Pro-tip: If you’re having trouble keeping up, there is an audiobook version of the Bible available in the youversion Bible app!

Summary

What a week for Job.

Many people find the Book of Job a difficult and frustrating read. The first time I read Job was in the depths of my health crisis. Some might say it’s ill-advised to read Job during a period of your life when you, too, have lost your health and the support of your friends — but honestly, there’s truly no better time to gain wisdom from the lessons in Job. And ultimately, it helped me with some of the bigger questions I was grappling with around God.

The Book of Job refuses to offer the kind of moral clarity we all instinctively want. Job’s suffering feels unwarranted and excessive, his arguments appear abrasive and disrespectful, and God’s silence can seem evasive and frustrating.

The story of Job defies cause-and-effect theology. Job is not secretly wicked, and we do not get a clear resolution or explanation for his plight, no matter how much his friends try to place fault with him.

The book of Job demands that the reader suffer alongside Job in order to gain the wisdom of these circumstances.

The lesson here is not instructional, but formative: we can trust in God when we lack understanding. We can lament our circumstances while remaining faithful. Divine wisdom exceeds human understanding.

The Book of Job is not about why bad things happen to good people.

The Book of Job is about whether God can be trusted when the world stops making sense.

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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 26 — Monday, 1/26 — Job 13-16, Psalm 17

• Day 27 — Tuesday, 1/27 — Job 17-20, Psalm 44

• Day 28 — Wednesday, 1/28 — Job 21-24, Psalm 45

• Day 29 — Thursday, 1/29 — Job 25-28, Psalm 46

• Day 30 — Friday, 1/30 — Job 29-32, Psalm 47

• Day 31 — Saturday, 1/31 — Job 33-36, Psalm 48

• Day 32 — Sunday, 2/1 — Job 37-39, Psalm 48

Day 26 — Monday, 1/26 — Job 13-16, Psalm 17

• Job wants to take God to court.

Day 27 — Tuesday, 1/27 — Job 17-20, Psalm 44

• Jobs friends double-down, continuing to insist that Job must have done something to deserve this; Job tells them their attitude deserves punishment.

Day 28 — Wednesday, 1/28 — Job 21-24, Psalm 45

• Job’s irritation with his friends grow, as does mine. Job asks why wicked people are not punished while he, a righteous man, despairs.

Day 29 — Thursday, 1/29 — Job 25-28, Psalm 46

• Job embarks on his final speech.

Day 30 — Friday, 1/30 — Job 29-32, Psalm 47

• Job continues his final protest of innocence.

Day 31 — Saturday, 1/31 — Job 33-36, Psalm 48

• Finally, one of Job’s friends — who has been silent until now — rebukes Job’s friends for blaming Job for his circumstances. He’s also mad at Job for the way he is accusing God of injustice. He is the first to point out that God can speak through suffering.

Day 32 — Sunday, 2/1 — Job 37-39, Psalm 48

• God shows up in the form of a storm — with more questions rather than answers. He speaks from the whirlwind:

• In Job 38:7, we once again have bene elohim — Hebrew for “sons of God,” consistently understood to mean angels in this verse.

• Note: God’s voice is described as thunder, and his presence is from within a storm—this story may be why nearly every subsequent mythology has a storm and/or thunder god. They are often dragon/serpent slayers. But I’m sure it’s just a coincidence and all these myths developed independently, apropos of nothing.

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Next week we will wrap up Job, catch back up with Enoch’s exploration of the cosmos, and start our journey out of Egypt.

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We are reading:

• Genesis 36-50

• Job 1-12

• Proverbs 3:25-35, Proverbs 4:1-27, Psalm 16

Summary

We’re wrapping up our first full book of the Bible this week!

And WHAT a wild ride Genesis has been.

I think Genesis is my favorite book of the Bible.

It’s the Bible for people who like Bravo.

This book has EVERYTHING. And it sets up and ties together so much world history.

Genesis. New York’s hottest ancient book has everything.

Light fighting with darkness, a VIP section called the firmament, and two nudist vegans living in a luxury garden, where the dress code is nothing and the only rule is, ‘Don’t eat off-menu.’

God said — ‘Let there be light,’ and ‘Let’s make people… emotionally unprepared.’

There’s a farm-to-table sibling rivalry between two brothers, angels coming down from heaven like, ‘Hey, you up?’, and a global flood rave with one boat, two of every animal, and a 600-year-old man who’s basically a nautical doomsday prepper.

Genesis: it’s like the Bible said, ‘Let there be mess,’ and it was good.

And then we’re introduced to Job.

Job’s story tells us a lot about the structure of the physical and spiritual world in heaven and on earth, the nature of relationships between God and Satan and humans, that suffering is not simply a divine punishment, and that God doesn’t answer all of our questions in this lifetime. Wisdom lies in recognizing the limits of human understanding.

The Old Testament is organized into 4 main sections: Law, History, Wisdom, and Prophets. The Book of Job is in the Wisdom section of the Bible, so we’re jumping to the middle of the Bible, but since we are approaching this reading chronologically, Job’s is the story that’s next. Most scholars agree that, given his long life, Job likely lived around the same time as Abraham — definitely after the flood yet before Moses, and possibly even a bit before Abraham.

Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 19 — Monday, 1/19 — Genesis 36-39, Proverbs 3:25-27

• Day 20 — Tuesday, 1/20 — Genesis 40-43, Proverbs 3:28-32

• Day 21 — Wednesday, 1/21 — Genesis 44-47, Proverbs 3:33-35

• Day 22 — Thursday, 1/22 — Genesis 48-50, Proverbs 4:1-9

• Day 23 — Friday, 1/23 — Job 1-4, Proverbs 4:10-19

• Day 24 — Saturday, 1/24 — Job 5-8, Proverbs 4:20-27

• Day 25 — Sunday, 1/25 — Job 9-12, Psalm 16

For the sake of making this Bible study sustainable, my notes will be getting shorter with each week until I reach a more sustainable length — just like the lifespans of the patriarchs in the post-flood generations.

Day 19 — Monday, 1/19 — Genesis 36-39, Proverbs 3:25-27

• The name Baal-hanan in Genesis 36:38 means “Baal has been gracious,” indicating descendants of Esau/Edom had fallen into worshipping pagan gods

• Joseph. Why are you telling your brothers these pretentious dreams?! Just take your technicolor dreamcoat and run! (I’ve actually never seen Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, I think I’m going to watch it this week.)

• Joseph’s immaturity about being favored provokes jealousy, Judah comes up with the idea to sell him into slavery, and Joseph ends up getting sold 5 times on the way to Egypt — ultimately getting the ball rolling on God’s plan

• Speaking of fulfilling God’s plans in surprising ways, Tamar ensures the existence of her progeny (King David, Mary, Joseph, and ultimately Jesus) in a SUPER surprising way. Despite his obvious faults, God ultimately redeems Judah following his repentance.

• Joseph just can’t catch a break. Contrasting Judah, he rejects the advances of Potiphar’s wife — and suffers for it anyway. But God is with him.

Day 20 — Tuesday, 1/20 — Genesis 40-43, Proverbs 3:28-32

• Joseph interprets dreams from prison while attributing the analysis to God, illustrating how God refines us before calling us into important positions of authority

• Joseph’s brothers arrive in Egypt. Oh, how the tables have turned.

Day 21 — Wednesday, 1/21 — Genesis 44-47, Proverbs 3:33-35

• Joseph tests his brothers’ moral character before revealing himself — and proving just how correct his teenage dreams were.

• Joseph talks about his divination cup, while he has attributed all his foresight to God.

• Judah continues to redeem himself by offering to stay in place of Benjamin.

• We learn that while bad things can still happen to us — God’s ultimate sovereignty rules in our favor. (An important note to remember as we embark on the Book of Job.)

Day 22 — Thursday, 1/22 — Genesis 48-50, Proverbs 4:1-9

• God’s blessing continues to favor the righteous younger rather than the expected first born.

• It’s interesting how important it is for Jacob to have his bones taken back to the land of his ancestors. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

• Jacob issues a prophetic blessing to each of his children that can be seen playing out for generations to come — even today.

Day 23 — Friday, 1/23 — Job 1-4, Proverbs 4:10-19

• Job is packed with theological wisdom:

  • First, we again have the bene Elohim — Hebrew for sons of God. This term consistently denotes heavenly beings, not humans — and is the same phrase used in Genesis 6.

  • We also learn about the existence of the Heavenly Court, where haśśāṭān (“the accuser” or Satan) presents himself to the divine council. So, Satan is a lawyer.

• We see clearly the interplay of heaven and earth. We learn that Satan is legalistic, while God is not. Job is introduced as genuinely righteous, not merely prosperous, establishing that what follows is not retributive justice. Satan thinks Job’s piety exists only because of the rewards he has received in this lifetime. Satan is only allowed to test Job within the limits set by God. And while Job curses the day he was born — he never curses God.

• I think Eliphaz sees a demon in Job 4. One of the bene Elohim roaming the earth with Satan.

Day 24 — Saturday, 1/24 — Job 5-8, Proverbs 4:20-27

• Job’s friends insist that Job’s suffering must be a corrective action from God. The logic is coherent but theologically hollow, as Job has never shown himself to be anything but submissive and dedicated in faith. Job insists that his agony is not due to any wrongdoing on his part and accuses his friends of betrayal masked as wisdom. Job’s friends exhibit a theologically rigid moral symmetry, reducing God to a predictable system and pushing the retributive principle to a cruel logical extreme.

• Job insists he has never done anything wrong, and begins to address God directly, describing divine scrutiny as excessive and oppressive.

Day 25 — Sunday, 1/25 — Job 9-12, Psalm 16

• Job laments that he cannot take God to court. He asserts that God’s power makes genuine justice inaccessible to humans and he wants a mediator to bridge the gap between human frailty and divine transcendence — isn’t this partly the job of the angels? Don’t they look down and hear our cries and bring our pleas to God? It’s curious here that Satan and the fallen angels are tormenting Job but we don’t see interference from the other angels; perhaps because God has made a decision to put boundaries on Job’s torment.

• Job’s friends continue urging repentance as the only rational response. Job decisively rejects his friends interpretations, noting that God’s governance includes destabilization as well as order.

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We will continue Job’s story next week — and hear from God Himself.

What came up for you this week? Let me know in the chat and in the comments below!

LOL.

This Week

We are reading:

• Genesis 12-35

• Proverbs 2:16-22, Proverbs 3:1-24

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Summary

We’re now in the Patriarch time period identified on the Ascension Press timeline (created by Jeff Cavins). This is when most churches pinpoint an actual historical time period, and agree that Abraham was born around 2000 BC.

The Bible actually pinpoints Abraham’s birth as 1948 years after the creation of the world. And the creation date of the world was famously calculated by Archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656), an Irish clergyman and scholar, who determined a creation date of Sunday, October 23rd, 4004 BC based on Biblical genealogies and historical texts. This would mean Abraham was likely born in 2056 BC.

Below are pictures of the Biblical charts that I have for this time frame to help you orient historically — the first set is from Adam’s Chronological Chart of History, and the last is from the Bible Timeline Chart from the Great Adventure Bible.

You can read this however you want, but here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:

• Day 12 — Monday, 1/12 — Genesis 12-15, Proverbs 2:16-19

• Day 13 — Tuesday, 1/13 — Genesis 16-19, Proverbs 2:20-22

• Day 14 — Wednesday, 1/14 — Genesis 20-22, Proverbs 3:1-4

• Day 15 — Thursday, 1/15 — Genesis 23-25, Proverbs 3:5-8

• Day 16 — Friday, 1/16 — Genesis 26-28, Proverbs 3:9-12

• Day 17 — Saturday, 1/17 — Genesis 29-31, Proverbs 3:13-18

• Day 18 — Sunday, 1/18 — Genesis 32-35, Proverbs 3:19-24

For the sake of making this weekly free Bible study sustainable, my daily notes are shorter this week.

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Day 12 — Monday, 1/12 — Genesis 12-15, Proverbs 2:16-19

• God’s plan to save humanity continues with His covenant with Abraham.

• In Genesis 14:18, we have foreshadowing of Jesus with Melchizedek’s offer of bread and wine.

• Genesis 15 is a major piece of the ultimate redemption story for humanity. Performing the ancient covenant ritual, God places zero conditions on Abraham and He alone assumes responsibility for its fulfillment — ultimately setting Himself up to die by His own oath to Abraham.

  • Most remarkably — Genesis 15:1 states “…the word of the LORD came to Abram…” That’s a potential reference to Jesus, as Jesus is the Word of God.

These diagrams of covenants from the Great Adventure Bible are a great way to understand how God’s promises unfold over time, culminating in ultimate salvation.

And here are some maps relevant to this week’s readings on Abraham that should help orient you in this time frame if you don’t have a study bible with maps.

Day 13 — Tuesday, 1/13 — Genesis 16-19, Proverbs 2:20-22

• Mistake! Abraham and Sarah are impatient about God’s promise to give Abraham descendants and take matters into their own hands when Sarah offers up her servant, Hagar, for Abraham to impregnate, producing Ishmael (whose ancestors later become the Arabs, and Muhammad, who founds Islam).

• I’ve always found it interesting that circumcision is commanded on the 8th day of life — which is when babies have a surge of vitamin K, which is critical for blood clotting. How could humans have known this at that time? This had to be wisdom bestowed by God.

• Today we have my husband’s favorite Bible verse:

  Sarah was afraid, so she denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh.” But the Lord said, “No, you did laugh.” Genesis 18:15 NLT

  Why did God think this was such an important footnote that he repeated it to Moses hundreds of years later? Write this down — Sarah laughed. She said she didn’t laugh but she definitely did.

  
  God’s got jokes.
  
  Abraham also laughs at God when He says He will make Abraham a father. And then God commands Abraham and Sarah name their child Isaac — which is Hebrew for “he laughs.”
  
  Jokes on jokes.

• I might have to do a whole separate article on the archaeological evidence for Sodom & Gomorrah.

• And is the pillar of salt pictured below Lot’s wife? This rock formation is venerated as Lot’s wife and is found near the cave where Lot and his family took shelter, near what is the now site of the Monastery of Saint Lot.

Day 14 — Wednesday, 1/14 — Genesis 20-22, Proverbs 3:1-4

• He laughs is born. But what happens next is not comedic. And I don’t think Isaac was laughing at the top of that mountain. Ultimately, this is yet another OT foreshadowing of Jesus — God’s sacrifice of His only begotten son.

• The story of Abraham being commanded to sacrifice Isaac is often perceived as confusing, or barbaric, or an example of an unjust God. But by fully understanding the meaning of this passage we can see that this is not the case.

  • First, God saving Isaac stands in stark contrast to (and as prohibition from) the popular practice of child sacrifice at the time.

  • Second, by this point, Abraham knew that God had a plan. He had already given him a son from a post-menopausal 90 year old woman. He had promised more descendants than stars in the sky. He knew God would either stop the sacrifice, or bring Isaac back to life, or had some other plan to fulfill the promises He was clearly intent on fulfilling. Abraham’s demonstration of faith and obedience is admirable.

Day 15 — Thursday, 1/15 — Genesis 23-25, Proverbs 3:5-8

• Abraham goes to great lengths to ensure Isaac’s wife is not a Canaanite.

• Does God have a preference for the second born sons? Abel over Cain, Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau (this note may or may not have been contributed by Alex, the second born).

• Esau sells his birthright to Jacob for lentil stew.

Day 16 — Friday, 1/16 — Genesis 26-28, Proverbs 3:9-12

• Isaac is definitely his father’s son claiming Rebekah is his sister. Abimelach constantly saying “She is obviously not your sister!” is so funny to me.

• Jacob steals Esau’s blessing with their mom’s help, and while the circumstances are almost comedic (fixing goat skin on him?!) — I am curious about the moral semi-ambiguity here given that God told Rebekah prior to their birth that Jacob would be the chosen son and that Esau would serve him.

• Jacob’s ladder resembles the ziggurat temples of Mesopotamia like the Tower of Babel — and becomes a major icon of Freemasonry.

Day 17 — Saturday, 1/17 — Genesis 29-31, Proverbs 3:13-18

• In yet another example of Biblical karma, Jacob gets tricked into marrying Leah over Rachel — but then he gets Rachel, the second born, as his second wife.

  • Bible reading pro-tip — a fun activity while reading the Bible is looking up the meanings of everyone’s names. In Genesis 30 this is especially interesting.

• We have an interesting event here of Rachel stealing her father’s household idols, as she escapes with Jacob back to the land of Canaan (which is also a foreshadowing of Exodus) — showing that paganism, viewed through the lens of worshipping the false gods derived from the fallen angels, has by this point proliferated through the ancient world. Rachel appears to believe in the favor of The Most High God, but is taking these idols just in case. Which, unfortunately, will not work out well in the end.

Day 18 — Sunday, 1/18 — Genesis 32-35, Proverbs 3:19-24

• After wrestling with a man/God for an entire night to the point that he dislocates his hip, Jacob gets renamed Israel, which means to wrestle with God.

• We have yet another instance of sexual assault in just the first book of the Bible — and an absolutely insane revenge story. Listen. Should Simeon and Levi have convinced the prince who raped their sister to circumcise himself and every man in the city, with the secret intention of ambushing and slaughtering the whole city 3 days later as they were recovering? Probably not. It put the whole family in jeopardy. But we once again learn that God’s chosen people are not perfect, and these were very different times. Will this come up again later for the descendants of Simeon and Levi? Most definitely.

• We end this week with the death of Isaac — and the emerging existence of Israel.

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New Chat Format

We are two weeks in to this Bible study and the chat remains overwhelming. I thought it might calm down after the first week but so far it has not.

In the interest of hopefully making it easier for everyone to discuss — I am going to open a second weekly chat for paying subscribers only. I will prioritize responding to questions, comments, and discussions in the paid chat.

I will also open another free chat this week and will still participate as much as I can in the free chat, but I know I am missing questions, comments, and discussions, and this is my attempt to prioritize how best to support and engage sustainably through the year.

Thank you all for your understanding and for being flexible as I figure out how best to approach this Bible Study.

As always, please feel free to share your thoughts on the week’s readings in the comments below!